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JOURNEY-BOOK OF ENGLAND 


BERKSHIRE: 

INCLUDING A 


FULL DESCRIPTION OF WINDSOR/ CASTLE. 



V 


WITH ' 

TWENTY-THREE ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, AND AN ILLUMINATED 
MAP OF THE COUNTY. 



LOND 

CHARLES KNIGHT & CO., LUDGATE STREET. 


MDCCCXL. 








LONDON: 

Printed by William Clowes and Sons, 
Stamford Street. 



NOTICE. 


The present Volume is the first of a Series which it is intended to publish, 
under the general Title of ‘ The Journey-Book of England. 5 The 
entire Series, if completed in a manner answerable to the wishes and 
intentions of the Publishers, will form a Topographical Description of all the 
English Counties , permanently useful for general reading and reference as a 
library work, while each separate volume is intended to serve as an accurate. 
Guide to particular localities. The description of each County will be- 
arranged, for the most part, in the order in which each place actually presents 
itself on the chief lines of communication; and as Railway s, in a great degree, 
already determine the routes of those who journey, whether for business or 
amusement, especial regard has been had to such an order as may naturally 
arise out of this great characteristic of the Travelling of England at the pre¬ 
sent day. This volume, for example, is not only a Topographical Guide to • 
Berkshire, but a Companion to that large portion of the Great Western- 
Railway which runs through forty-five miles of this County. It is necessary? 
to state that the Publishers have the advantage of employing in this Series- 
the Topographical Articles of ‘ The Penny Cyclopaedia,’ a body of materials 
unrivalled for completeness and accuracy. In moulding these articles, with 
large additions, into their present form, no pains will be spared to bring up the 
information to the most recent period. The Illuminated Map , which will 
accompany each Volume, will be found, in the clearness which results from its 
peculiar mode of colouring, superior to any existing County Map on a similar 
scale. 










































•» 













C O NT ENTS. 


CHAPTER I.—General Description. 


Page 

Derivation of Berkshire . . . . . . • . . j 

Situation, Boundaries, and Extent . . . . . . . .1 

Physical Topography . . . . . . . . .2 

S urface ..*.........2 

Rivers * . . . . . . . . . .3 

Woodlands. ........... 4 

Climate . . . . . . . . . . . .5 

Soil . ... . .6 

Civil, Military, and Ecclesiastical History and Antiquities .... 8 

Agriculture and Rural Economy . . . . . . . .14 

R otation of Crops .......... 15 

Size of Farms ...........15 

Implements of Husbandry . . . * . . . .15 

Market Gardens ...........16 

Coppices and Osieries . . , . . . . . . .16 

Cattle, &c.17 

Political Topography . . . . . . . . . .18 

Civil Divisions . . • . . . . . . . .18 

Ecclesiastical Divisions. . . . . . . . . .19 

Value of Livings . . . . . . . . . .20 

Population and Occupations ......... 22 

Civic Economy .......... 24 

Local Taxation and Expenditure ........ 24 

Pauperism . . • . . . . . . . . .24 

Crime . . . . . * . . . . . .26 

Education ............ 27 

Savings’ Banks . . . . . . . . . .27 

Means of Communication and Traffic ....... 28 

a, 2 


























VI 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Hoads ...... ....... 28 

Railway ........ . ... 29 

Rivers ..30 

Canals ............ 30 

Post Towns • • • . . . . . . • .31 

Markets and Fairs . • . . . . • . . .31 

CHAPTER II.—'Windsor. 

Eton College ..35 

Windsor ............ 37 

Windsor Castle, Historical and Descriptive . . . . . .38 

Interior of the Castle .......... 48 

The State Apartments • . . . . . . . . .50 

The Round Tower.54 

St. George’s Chapel .......... 55 

The Parks ............58 

The Long Walk.58 

Virginia Water ...........60 

CHAPTER III.—Windsor to Reading. 

The Forest Road ...........64 

The Wokingham Road .......... 65 

By Twyford . . • . . . . . • . .69 

CHAPTER IV.— Maidenhead to Reading. 

Maidenhead . . . . . . . . . . . 71 

Ockwells Manor House . . . . . . . . . .72 

By Henley ............ 75 

Hurley House . . . . . . ... . . .76 

CHAPTER V.— Reading. 

Situation . . . . . . . . . . . .81 

Historical Notice . . . . . • . . . . .81 

Ancient Remains. ...*......85 

Churches and Public Buildings ........ 89 

Schools. 91 




























CONTENTS. 


vii 


Page 

Charities •••.......,.92 

Eminent Men ........... 93 

CHAPTER VI.—Reading to Wallingford. 

Wallingford ...........97 

CHAPTER VII.—Reading to Newbury and Hungerford. 

Newbury. .105 

Hungerford ............ 110 

Newbury to Lamboum . • . . . . . . .111 

Lambourn . . . • . . . . . . . .112 

Wayland Smith's Cave . . . . . . . . .113 

Seven Barrow Field . * . . . . , . . .113 

CHAPTER VIII.—Wallingford to Wantage. 

Wantage . . . . . . . . . . . .116 

The Blowing Stone.120 

The White Horse 121 

CHAPTER IX.—Oxford to Abingdon and Newbury. 

Abingdon 124 

Donnington Castle . . . . . . . • . .128 

CHAPTER X.—Oxford to Faringdon. 

Cumnor Hall ........... 132 

Faringdon ,...♦* .138 

CHAPTER XI.—Oxford to Hungerford. 


Letcombe Castle . 


143 




















ILLUSTRATIONS. 


K 


Page 

1. Eton College from the Thames . . , . . . .34 

2. Quadrangle of Eton College . . . . . .36 

3. North-west View of Windsor Castle from the Thames . . . .39 

4. The Castle,—Round Tower and South Front . . . . .40 

5. The Castle,—Great Quadrangle . . . . . .42 

6. The Castle,-'-North Froilt and Terrace . . . • . .44 

7. Part of Windsor Castle built in the time of Elizabeth . • . .47 

8. Birds’Eye View of Windsor Castle in the Time of Charles I. . . 49 

9. St. George’s Chapel,—South Front... .56 

10. Interior of St. George’s Chapel . . . . . . .57 

11. Herne’s Oak, Sixty Years since . . * . . . . • .59 

12. Fishing Temple on Virginia Water . . . • . • .61 

13. Scene in Windsor Forest ......... 63 

14. Pope’s Tree at Binfield . . . . . . . . .66 

15. Manor House, Ockwells ......... 73 

16. Vaults at Lady Place ......... 79 

17. Reading, from Caversham Hill ........ 82 

18. Ruins of Reading Abbey in 1721. ....... 87 

19. Wallingford and View on the Thames . . . . . .98 

20. Newbury and Donnington Castle . . . • • . .107 

21. Way land Smith’s Cave . . . . . . . . .113 

22. Portrait of King Alfred • • . . . . . . .117 

23. The Pusey Horn.. 137 
























































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j,»m Hughes 















































THE 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


CHAPTER I. 


GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


The county which we call Berkshire, 
or, as it is written by our older topogra¬ 
phers, Barkshire, was anciently named 
by the Latin writers * Bercheriaby 
the Saxons Bejipoc-jcyjie(Berroc-scyre), 
which name Asser Menevensis derives 
from Berroc, a certain wood where grew 
plenty of box; others from an oak dis- 
barked (which the word beroke means), 
at which, in critical times, the inhabit¬ 
ants used to meet to consult about their 
affairs. (Gough’s Camden .) In Le- 
land’s Itinerary (vol. ii. fol. 2) it is called 
Barkshir. The name, whatever be its 
original meaning, seems to be included 
in the appellation given by Caesar {Bell. 
Gall.) to a tribe which inhabited this 
county — the Bi-broc-i : for bark and 
broc are in fact the same. 

SITUATION, BOUNDARIES, AND EXTENT. 

Berkshire is situated within the basin 
of the Thames, which forms, in its 
sinuous course from the neighbourhood 
ofLeclilade in Gloucestershire to below 


Windsor, the northern boundary of the 
county, and separates it from the coun¬ 
ties of Gloucester, Oxford, and Bucks, 
which lie on the other side of the river. 
The county of Wilts borders Berkshire 
on the west; the line of division between 
them, though irregular, has a general 
bearing N.N.W. and S.S.E. from the 
bank of the Thames to a few miles south 
of Hungerford. A line, running with 
tolerable regularity east and west, and 
coinciding in one part with the course 
of the river Emborne, a feeder of 4 the 
Kennet, and in another part with the 
course of the river Loddon, a feeder of 
the Thames, separates the county from 
Hampshire; and on the south-east a 
line running north-east and south¬ 
west separates it from Surrey. 

The dimensions of the county are as 
follow :—length, east and west from 
the border of Wiltshire between Hun¬ 
gerford and Lambourn to Old Windsor 
on the Thames, forty-three miles, 
nearly; breadth, north and south from 
the bank of the Thames north west of 


B 




JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


Oxford to the border of Hampshire, 
near Newbury, thirty-one miles, nearly. 
A line of about fifty-two miles may be 
drawn from the north-western extremity 
of the county to Old Windsor, but this 
line, from the irregularity of the northern 
boundary, will not lie entirely within 
the county. The area of the county is 
given at 758 square miles, equal to 


485,120 acres, in the table appended to 
Arrowsmith’s great map of England; 
or at 752 square miles, or 481,280 acres 
(or computing by the separate parishes, 
472,270 acres), according to the popula¬ 
tion returns: it therefore forms about 
one seventy-sixth part of England and 
Wales. 


PHYSICAL TOPOGRAPHY. 


SURFACE. 

The principal high land in this county 
consists of a range of downs running 
W. by N. or W.N.W. from the banks 
of the Thames between Reading and 
Wallingford, into the northern part of 
Wiltshire. These hills, which, with the 
Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire and 
the Chilterns of Buckinghamshire, form 
one chalky range, rise in some parts to 
a considerable elevation. At Scutcham- 
fly station, on the Cuckhamsley hills, a 
part of this range, a short distance 
south-east of Wantage, the height is 
853 feet, and the White Horse Hill, 
which forms a part of the range, and is 
near the western border of the county, 
is 893 feet high. It may be observed 
of the whole chalk range of which these 
Berkshire hills form a part, that the 
northern or north-western declivity is 
more elevated and has a steeper slope 
than the other. This declivity is also 
marked by its being bare of wood and 
covered with a fine turf. These charac¬ 
ters are preserved in that part which 


lies within Berkshire. The southern 
slope of the range, which descends to 
the vale watered by the Kennet, sinks 
for the most part gently, the chalk dis¬ 
appearing under reddish clay, sand, and 
gravel. The western part of the chalk 
range, which is the most elevated, is 
used for sheep-walks. These are of 
good quality, but not to be compared in 
extent with those of Wiltshire or Dor¬ 
setshire. The eastern part of the range 
is sufficiently covered with soil to become 
arable. The streams which rise on the 
northern declivity flow into the Thames ; 
those which rise on the southern slope 
flow into the Kennet, which drains the 
waters of the south part of the county, 
or into a small stream which falls into 
the Thames a few miles above Reading. 
There are some hills which skirt the 
valley of the Thames in the northern 
part of the county, from the neighbour¬ 
hood of Faringdon to below Oxford. 
These hills consist of shelly oolite, and 
calcareous and shelly sand with grit- 
I stone. (Greenouglvs Geological Map 







GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


3 


of England.) Between these hills and 
the chalk range already described is 
the fertile vale of .White Horse, which 
is drained by the Ock. The vale of 
White Horse opens into the low lands 
which line the right bank of the Thames 
from Abingdon to a point a few miles 
above Wallingford, at which point the 
vale of Aylesbury, drained by the 
Thame, opens into the valley of the 
Thames on the left bank, just below 
Dorchester. There is some high land 
(463 feet high in one part) on the 
border of the county towards Bagshot 
in Surrey. 

RIVERS. 

The principal river of Berkshire is 
the Thames, which however is not, in 
any part, included within the county, 
but forms, as already noticed, its 
northern boundary. The direct distance 
between the two points where the river 
first touches the county and where it 
finally leaves it is about fifty-two miles; 
but from the winding course of the 
stream, the distance measured along the 
bank is 105 to 110 miles. An account 
of the Thames as a means of traffic and 
intercourse will be subsequently given. 
Oxford, Wilts, Berks, Bucks, and parts 
of Gloucester and Hampshire, com¬ 
prising an area of about 2500 square 
miles, are drained by the Upper Thames. 
After heavy rains the river is occa¬ 
sionally flooded, and the low lands 
inundated to a considerable extent, the 
waters of the Kennet and other tribu¬ 
taries being collected into one channel 
before it reaches Windsor. 


The Kennet, which rises in Wiltshire’ 
about four miles N.W. of Silbury Hill, 
enters the county near Hungerford, 
having previously served for a short 
distance as a boundary between Wilt¬ 
shire and Berkshire. From Hunger- 
ford the stream runs eastward (being 
much divided, and flowing in several 
channels) by Avington and Kentbury 
to Newbury, below which it receives the 
Lambourn, which rises in the chalk 
hills above the town of the same name. 
The Kennet then continues its course 
(being still frequently divided into 
several smaller streams which again 
unite) to the village of Aldermaston, 
and there bending to the north-east to 
Reading, falls into the Thames a little 
below that town. That part of its course 
which can be considered as belonging 
to this county is about thirty to thirty- 
two miles ; the course of the Lambourn 
to its junction with the Kennet is about 
fifteen miles. Both of these rivers pro¬ 
duce trout, pike, barbel, eels, crayfish, 
perch, chub, roach, and dace. The 
trouts of the Kennet are of great size ; 
those of the Lambourn are of a paler 
colour and not so much esteemed. 

The Loddon rises in Hampshire, and 
for some distance separates that county 
from Berkshire, flowing towards the 
W.N.W. Near the village of Swallow- 
field it turns to the N.N.E. and flows 
to Hurst Park, receiving by the way 
the Emme Brook. From Hurst Park 
it turns to the N.W. and flows into the 
Thames between Reading and Henley. 
Its whole length is nearly thirty miles, 
of which about six miles are along the 
b 2 



4 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


border of Berkshire and twelve within 
that county. Above its outfall its 
waters divide, and flow into the Thames 
by several channels. Leland, in his 
Itinera?']/, observes that he crossed its 
different arms by four bridges. 

The Ock rises in the western part of 
the county, runs a general E.N.E. course, 
and receiving many tributaries by the 
way, falls into the Thames near Abing¬ 
don. Its whole course is about twenty 
miles. The fish in it are pike, con¬ 
sidered remarkably fine, perch, gud¬ 
geon, roach, dace, and crayfish. 

The Emborne rises in the south¬ 
western corner of the county, and flowing 
astward, divides it from Hampshire. 
Near Brimpton it turns to the north, 
and falls into the Kennet after a course 
of about eighteen miles. 

WOODLANDS. 

The south and east sides of Berkshire 
have a large proportion of woodland. 
Leland, in his Itinerary, vol. ii. fol. 2 , 
speaks of “ a great warfeage of timbre 
and fier wood at the west ende of the 
(Maidenhead) bridge ; and this wood,’’ 
he adds, “ cummith out of Barkshir, 
and. the great w'oddis of the forest of 
Windelesore and the greate Frithe.” 
The predominant wood is hazel, inter¬ 
mixed with oak, ash, beech, chestnut, 
and alder. The whole of the south part 
of the county was once occupied by the 
forest of Windsor, which extended in 
one direction into Buckinghamshire, and 
in another into Surrey as far as Chertsey, 
Cobham, and even Guildford, and 
reached westward so far as Hungerford 


along the vale of the Kennet. The 
vale of the Kennet was disafforested 
by charter in the year 1226 ; and a 
considerable part of Windsor Forest is 
now in a state of cultivation, an act 
having passed for its inclosure in the 
year 1813. A great part of Bagshot 
Heath was within the boundaries of the 
forest. 

The woods and coppice scattered 
over the county add to the diversity, 
which is a beautiful feature in its land¬ 
scapes as viewed from eminences. 
Considerable quantities of timber are 
annually felled, and during the war the 
finest trees were readily purchased for 
the dock-yards. The high prices then 
given have considerably diminished the 
number of old oaks, but very fine trees 
may still be found in some of the gentle¬ 
men’s parks, and occasionally in the 
hedge-rows, which are still tolerably 
furnished with timber, of which elm 
forms a considerable portion. The 
Forest of Windsor, with the exception 
of the neighbourhood of the parks, had 
but few trees on the wastes, and these 
more picturesque in appearance from 
their age than valuable as timber. 
Some of the oldest oaks in Cranbourn 
Wood are mere hollow trunks, with a few 
picturesque branches; but there are 
extensive plantations of recent growth. 

CLIMATE. 

The climate of Berkshire is one of 
the most healthy in England. The 
chalky hills in the western part of the 
county are remarkable for the invigo¬ 
rating and bracing qualities of the air. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


5 


The vales being milder may perhaps 
suit delicate constitutions better, and 
having pure streams running through 
them, which make the air circulate and 
purify it, they are considered as healthy 
as the hills. Fevers and epidemic dis¬ 
eases are very rare. 

SOIL. 

The soil, as may be expected in a 
county of such extent and so irregular 
a shape, is extremely varied. In Ken¬ 
nedy and Grainger’s * Tenancy of Land’ 
it is said of the land in Berkshire that 
“ there is but very little of it that unites 
the qualities of a free-working soil and 
good substance, it being in general 
very poor upon the hills, whilst in the 
lowlands it is cold and laborious to 
work.” The principal hills are com¬ 
posed of chalk; the valleys of different 
sorts of loam, in which clay predomi¬ 
nates, with gravel and sand upon it 
rising into small elevations. Along the 
rivers there are alluvial deposits. The 
whole county seems to lie over chalk or 
limestone. Windsor Castle, at one 
extremity, stands on a solitary mass of 
chalk surrounded by stiff clay. This 
clay, in some places, has a depth of 300 
feet over the chalk, as was found in 
boring for water near Winkfield plain. 
The chalk rises to the surface near 
Maidenhead and Marlow. The chalk, 
which dips so deep under Windsor 
Forest, appears again in Hampshire. 
The clay of the forest is a compact blue 
clay, of the same nature as that which 
is usually called the London clay, and in 
which nearly the whole bed of the 


Thames lies, from near Reading to the 
sea. 

Over this clay lies the poor sand and 
loam impregnated with iron, known by 
the name of Bagshot-heath land, which 
extends into Hampshire and Surrey; 
and also the richer alluvial soils in the 
valleys, and along the banks of the 
Thames and the Kennet. Under the 
vale of White Horse, where the richest 
soils occur, the chalk runs into a harder 
limestone of a blue colour, and a free¬ 
stone or oolite which composes the 
Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire. 

In the vale of White Horse are some 
of the most fertile lands in England. 
The western part of the vale is chiefly 
covered with rich pastures, the soil 
being a good loam on a sound and dry 
subsoil. Along the bottom of the White 
Horse hills lies the rich corn-land for 
which the vale is renowned, intermixed 
with gravel and sandy loams of an 
inferior quality, and some very stiff 
clays. This land is chiefly arable, and 
is called white land, from the admixture 
of finely divided calcareous earth in its 
composition. It has the appearance of 
an alluvial deposit, enriched by the 
finer parts of the chalk washed down 
from the neighbouring hills. Along the 
Thames is a belt of rich meadows, ex¬ 
tending in some places only a very short 
distance from the river, and no where 
above two miles. These meadows have 
not been improved by irrigation so 
much as they might be, and are chiefly 
fertilised by the winter and spring 
floods. The next district in importance, 
in an agricultural point of view, is the 




6 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


vale of Kennet, extending along the 
river of that name, and on the south of 
the hills above mentioned, from Hun- 
gerford to Reading, a distance of about 
twenty-five miles. The soil of this vale 
is not so generally fertile as that of 
White Horse, which is called ‘ The 
Yale,’ by way of pre-eminence; but its 
soil is well adapted to the growth of 
corn ; and the inferiority in natural 
fertility is compensated by superior care 
in the cultivation. 

The soil in this vale is chiefly gravelly, 
covered with a layer of more or less 
depth of loam, some of which is of a 
reddish colour, and may vie in fertility 
with the white land in the vale of White 
Horse. On the south of the Kennet 
are some compact clays, in which oaks 
thrive, and where good crops of wheat 
and beans are raised with careful culture. 
South of Newbury, towards the boun¬ 
dary of the county, the soil becomes 
less productive, till it assumes the 
character of the brown heath which 
indicates the barren ferruginous sand of 
Bagshot. Along the river Kennet, 
from Hungerford to Reading, there is a 
valuable tract of water-meadows, which 
in some places are capable of consider¬ 
able improvement by a better distribu¬ 
tion and regulation of the waters of the 
river. These meadows produce much 
herbage, which is sometimes made into 
hay, and at other times depastured 
with sheep and cattle, but the after- 
math is not found so good for ‘sheep, 
being apt to rot them. They are let 
for spring feed at thirty or forty shillings 
per acre, the latter having the privilege 


of folding the sheep at night, which is 
an advantage equal to lOs. more. This is 
from Lady-day to old May-day; after 
which they will still produce a ton and 
a-half, or two tons of hay per acre when 
mown, or the grass may be cut green 
for cart-horses, which is thought more 
profitable to a certain extent. 

Under the meadows, along part of the 
Kennet near Newbury, there is a species 
of peat, which is extensively reduced 
to ashes by burning, and applied as 
a top-dressing to clover and artificial 
grasses. It lies in some places only 
eighteen inches below the surface, and 
in others four or five feet. The stra¬ 
tum varies in thickness from one to 
eight or nine feet. The bottom on 
which it rests is a gravelly loam with 
an uneven surface. The true peat is 
of a compact nature, and is composed 
almost entirely of vegetable matter. In 
it are found the remains of trees partly 
decomposed, and surrounded by a tough 
mass of decomposed aquatic plants. 
This peat is dug out, with a long and 
narrow spade made for the purpose, in 
oblong pieces, which are laid to dry, 
and then placed in the form of a dome, 
and set on fire from below. As the 
peat begins to burn, more is added, so 
as to keep up a smothered fire; and in 
proportion as the heap increases, and 
the fire becomes more powerful, moister 
pieces are put on to prevent its break¬ 
ing out. Thus a large mass of slowly 
burning peat is formed, which burns for 
a month or six weeks before the whole 
is properly converted into ashes. This 
heap is often three or four yards high. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


7 


and fifteen or twenty yards in circum¬ 
ference. As soon as the ashes are 
cooled the whole is riddled to separate 
the unburnt clods; and the ashes are 
used immediately, or stored under cover 
till they are wanted. The quantity 
usually put on an acre of young clover 
is fifteen or twenty bushels: the price 
at Newbury is fourpence a bushel. 

These ashes have been analysed by 
Sir H. Davy, and found to contain,— 
oxide of iron, 48 ;—gypsum, 32 ;—and 
muriate and sulphate of potash, 20 per 
cent. The principal cause of their good 
effects on green crops and clover-leys 
is, most probably, the quantity of gyp¬ 
sum which they contain. Between the 
vale of White Horse and that of the 
Kennet extends a district of inferior 
land, partly consisting of chalky hills 
covered with sheep-walks, and of dales 
of moderate fertility. The soil is prin¬ 
cipally calcareous, with variations of 
clay and gravel. 

The chalky hills on the west side of 
the Thames are separated from the hills 
in the south-east angle of Oxfordshire 
by a narrow opening near Goring, 
through which the river flows: if this 
opening at any time did not exist, the 
country above must have had consider¬ 
able lakes in it, formed by the pent-up 
waters of the Thames and tributary 
streams. This may account for the 
rich alluvial soils found in the vale of 
White Horse. On the hills which bor¬ 
der the Thames there are extensive 
views over the rich vale of White Horse, 
and into Oxfordshire; and, in general, 
the aspect of the country from any con¬ 


siderable hill is that of great richness 
and variety. No county in England> 
except Middlesex and the part of Surrey 
nearest to London, contains so many 
villas and gentlemen’s residences. 

The eastern part of the country, or 
the Windsor Forest district, though less 
fertile, is not less inviting as to situation. 
The hills from Egham to Bray are 
covered with very fine old and young 
plantations, and form the picturesque 
scenery of Windsor Great Park. This 
forms a contrast with the open heath 
extending to Bagshot, which was di¬ 
vided and inclosed in the year 1813, 
when the forestal rights were abolished 
by act of parliament. These rights, if 
claimed to their full extent, would have 
been extremely burdensome, and not 
readily submitted to in these times. 
While they existed, they had a visible 
influence on the agriculture of the dis¬ 
trict, and greatly retarded its progress, 
in spite of the example of George III. 

The parishes contained within the 
Forest of Windsor were Old Windsor 
New Windsor, Winkfield, Sunninghill, 
Binfield, Easthampstead, Sandhurst, 
Finchampstead, Barkham, Wokingham, 
Arborfield, and Swallowfield; and parts 
of Clewer, Bray, and Hurst. The open 
uninclosed forest in all these parishes 
amounted to about 24,000 acres, very 
little of which would repay the expense 
of cultivation ; and much of it remains 
now in its original state, although di¬ 
vided and inclosed. The allotments given 
to the crown, under the Inclosure Act of 
1813, amounting to above one-fourth of 
the whole, have been mostly planted. 




8 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


The soil in the forest district is ex¬ 
tremely various : along the Thames, in 
the parishes of Old and New Windsor, 
Clewer, and Bray, there are excellent 
meadows, and some very good arable 
land, consisting of loam and gravel. To 
the south, along the hills, which extend 
at the distance of two or three miles 
from the river, the soil is a very tena¬ 
cious clay, better adapted for grass than 
for corn. The cultivation of it, as arable 
land, is laborious and expensive, from 
the necessity of bringing chalk from 
a distance to correct its cold nature, 
and neutralise the large portion of iron 
and saline substances which it contains. 
The waters found in the land springs, 
and within a certain depth in this soil, 
are more or less impregnated with 
sulphates and muriates of soda and 
magnesia; so that in many places 
mineral wells have been discovered, 
and occasionally much frequented by 
invalids for their purgative qualities. 
Of these there are several in Windsor 
Great Park, St. Leonard’s Hill, Wink- 
field Plain, where a regular pump-room 
has been fitted up, and in Winkfield 
Park; this last was formerly in stfme I 


repute. The spring at Sunninghill 
was celebrated in a poem entitled ‘ He- 
liocrene,* published in 1744. Beyond 
these clay hills, as we go south from 
the river, the soil becomes lighter, and 
gradually changes into a poor light loam, 
then a sand and gravel, which dimin¬ 
ishes in fertility till it becomes the 
poor thin soil of Bagshot Heath, in 
which the impregnation of carbonate of 
iron is so strong as to deposit the iron 
in the brooks in the form of a rusty 
powder. 

The old inclosures in the forest were 
chiefly pastures. The arable land was 
confined to common fields, which were 
of very inferior value, owing to the right 
of pasture over them after a certain time 
of the year; and while the pastures let 
for nearly the same rent a century ago 
as they do now, the arable common land 
let for only one-fourth of its present 
value; but the pastures enabled the 
occupier to keep sheep and cattle on the 
extensive commons, on which was his 
chief reliance for profit. Since the in- 
closure of the forest, arable land has 
improved, and pastures have decreased 
in value. 


CIVIL, MILITARY, AND ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AND 
ANTIQUITIES. 


The Atrebates, or Atrebatii, are con¬ 
sidered to have been the tribe inhabit¬ 
ing this district; their name points 
them out as a colony of the Atrebates 
(people of Artois) in Gaul, who were, as 


Caesar informs us, Belgae, and of Ger¬ 
manic origin. (De Bell. Gall. ii. 4.) 
Mr. Whitaker, and some other modern 
antiquaries, consider that the Bibroci 
inhabited the hundred of Bray, and the 






GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


3 


Segontiaci a small part of the county 
bordering on Hampshire. The Bibroci 
and Segontiaci, and perhaps the Atre- 
bates (for some consider these to be the 
people mentioned by Csesar under the 
name of Ancalites), submitted to Caesar 
when he crossed the Thames in pursuit 
of Cassivelaunus, and advanced into 
the heart of the country. In the divi¬ 
sion made by the Romans of that part 
of the island which they reduced to 
subjection, Berkshire appears to have 
been included in Britannia prima. 

Of this remote period Berkshire re¬ 
tains some memorials in the traces of 
ancient roads and other antiquities. 
The roads or parts of roads run in dif¬ 
ferent directions. The most marked is 
a part of that which led from Glevum 
(Gloucester) to Londinium (London). 
It enters Berkshire from Wiltshire, not 
far from Lambourn, and runs south-east 
to Spinae (Speen), where it appears to 
have met another Roman road from 
Aquae Solis (Bath) to Londinium (Lon¬ 
don). From Spinae its course to Lon¬ 
dinium does not appear to have been 
ascertained, though some traces of it 
appear on Bagshot Heath, where it is 
vulgarly called ‘the Devil’s Highway.* 
The traces of other Roman roads are 
not of any great extent or importance. 
The Ikeneld Street (of British origin) 
passed through Berkshire, but its course 
is disputed. Some consider ‘the Ridge 
Way,’ which runs along the edge of the 
chalk range over East and West llsley 
Downs, Cuckhamsley Hills, &c., to be 
the true Ikeneld Street; while others 
contend for a line of road under the 


same range through or near Blewbury, 
Wantage, Sparsholt, &c. To the west 
of Wantage, where this last line is most 
clearly to be traced, it is called Ickleton 
Way. (Lysons's Magna Britannia; 
Wise’s Account of some Antiquities in 
Berkshire .) 

The only Roman station in the county, 
the site of which has been satisfactorily 
settled, is Spinae. The name and the 
distances agree in identifying it with 
Speen, a village near Newbury. Yet 
it is remarkable that no Roman remains 
appear to have been discovered here— 
none at least sufficient to show the ex¬ 
istence of such a station.. Bibracte, 
mentioned in the twelfth iter of Richard 
of Cirencester, is fixed by Whitaker at 
Bray; though the distance between 
Londinium and Bibracte differs so much 
from that between London and Bray as 
to occasion great difficulty. Pontes, 
another Roman station, has been fixed 
by Horsley (Britannia Romana) near 
Old Windsor, but others prefer Staines, 
in Middlesex. Calleva or Caleva was 
thought by Camden to have been Wal¬ 
lingford ; but though the remains of 
Roman antiquity found there point out 
Wallingford as the site of an important 
Roman station, yet the situation as¬ 
signed to Calleva in the Itinerary of 
Antoninus cannot be made to agree 
with Wallingford, the Roman name of 
which is therefore unknown to us. 
Calleva has also been fixed by conjec¬ 
ture at Coley Manor, near Reading; 
but Silchester in Hampshire, just on 
the border of this county, is more gene¬ 
rally preferred. 





10 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


The vallum, which appears to have 
surrounded the town of Wallingford, 
was unquestionably a Roman work ; at 
the south-west angle it is very entire 
for the space of about 270 paces on the 
south side, and 370 on the west. This 
vallum is single, and appears to have 
had a wet ditch, which rendered it very 
secure. 

There are remains of camps in seve¬ 
ral parts of the county, supposed to have 
been occupied by the Romans, though 
some of them are probably of British 
origin. Uffington Castle, an oval earth 
work on the summit of White Horse 
Hill, 700 feet in diameter from east to 
west, and 500 feet from north to south, 
is one of these. It is surrounded by a 
double vallum, or embankment, the in¬ 
ner one high, and commanding an ex¬ 
tensive view in every direction, the 
outer one slighter. Letcome or Sag- 
bury Castle, on Letcome Downs, north¬ 
east of Lambourn, is almost circular, has 
a double vallum, and incloses an area 
of nearly twenty-six acres. Another 
camp or earth-work, called Hardwell 
Camp, is about half a mile north-west 
of Uffington Castle ; it is an entrench¬ 
ment of square form, where not broken 
by the steep edge of the hill, sur¬ 
rounded by a double vallum, and in 
size about 140 paces by 180. Near 
Little Coxwell, in the neighbourhood of 
Faringdon, are the remains of a square 
camp ; and at the other extremity of 
the county there is a strong entrench¬ 
ment, of irregular form, on Bagshot 
Heath, near Easthampstead, 560 paces 
iu length, and 280 in breadth near the 


middle: it is supposed to be a Roman 
work, and is commonly-called ‘ Csesar's 
Camp.’ Remains of works, British or 
Roman, are also found near the road 
from Abingdon to Faringdon, five or 
six miles from the latter (Cherbury 
Camp), and on Sinodun Hill, near 
Wittenham, on the Thames. There are 
circular camps near Ashdown Park, a 
little way from Lambourn (Ashbury 
Camp, or Alfred's Castle), and on Bad- 
bury Hill, not far from Faringdon; but 
of the probable origin of the former we 
have no information—perhaps it was 
Danish, as also the latter is supposed tobe. 

Many barrows are found, especially 
oneon the chalk hills north of Lambourn. 
A curious stone, called ‘ the blowing 
stone,’ is situate at Kingston Lisle, five 
miles due north of Lambourn. Of this 
and the other antiquities of this curious 
district, a detailed account will be found 
in its proper place. 

When the Saxons became possessed 
of South Britain, Berkshire was included 
in the kingdom of the West Saxons. It 
was partly wrested from them by the 
powerful and ambitious Offa, king of 
the Mercians. At what time it returned 
under the sway of the West Saxon 
kings we are not aware; probably it 
was when Egbert elevated Wessex to a 
permanent superiority over the other 
parts of the Saxon Octarchy. It formed 
part of Wessex under the reign of 
Ethelwulph (son of Egbert), whose 
youngest son, the great Alfred, was 
born at Wantage in this county. In the 
reign of Ethelred I., the brother and 
immediate predecessor of Alfred, the 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


11 


Danes invaded Berkshire, and possessed 
themselves of Reading. Here they 
were attacked by the West Saxons : in 
the first engagement the Danes were 
defeated, but in the second they re¬ 
pulsed their assailants. Four days 
afterwards at JEscesdun, i. e., Ash-tree- 
hill, a more important battle was fought 
in which both Ethelred and Alfred were 
present, and in which the Danes were 
defeated with great slaughter. The 
site of this iEscesdun has been much 
disputed. Wise, in his Letter to Dr. 
Mead , concerning some Antiquities in 
Berkshire , contends for the ridge of the 
chalk hills extending from Wantage 
into Wiltshire, and thinks that the 
White Horse, cut on the hill, is a me¬ 
morial of the victory. Aston, a village 
near Wallingford and Ashampstead, a 
village about equally distant from Wal¬ 
lingford, Newbury, and Reading, have 
each their partisans. Mr. Turner (His¬ 
tory of the Anglo-Saxons) inclines to 
the opinion that Merantune (where 
shortly afterwards the Saxons sustained 
a severe defeat, in which Ethelred was 
mortally wounded) was Moreton, near 
Wallingford. 

In the war with the Danes during 
the reign of Ethelred II., Berkshire 
was laid waste with fire and sword. The 
barbarous invaders burnt Reading, 
Wallingford, and other places. This 
was in 1006. At the time of the Nor¬ 
man invasion, William the Conqueror 
received at Wallingford the submission 
of the Archbishop Stigand and of the 
principal barons, before he marched to 
London. 


In the civil war consequent upon the 
usurpation of Stephen Berkshire was 
again the seat of war. Brian Fitzcourt, 
who had come by marriage into posses¬ 
sion of Wallingford Castle, early took 
the side of the Empress Maud; and his 
castle afforded her a secure retreat when 
she fled from Oxford. Faringdon Castle, 
which was erected by Robert, earl of 
Gloucester, natural brother of the em¬ 
press, was taken by Stephen, and so 
completely demolished, that not a ves¬ 
tige now remains. When John rebelled 
against his brother, Richard I., he 
seized Wallingford and WindsorCastles, 
but they were taken from him again by 
the barons in the king's interest, and 
placed in the hands of the queen dowa¬ 
ger. The strength of these two for¬ 
tresses rendered them important, as 
military stations, in the troubles which 
took place during the latter part of the 
reign of John, and during the reign of 
Henry III. In 1263, Windsor Castle 
was taken by Simon de Montfort. 
During this early part of our history, 
the palace at Old W indsor, or the castle 
at New Windsor, was the frequent resi¬ 
dence of the king. 

Of the castles of this period there are 
few remains except at Windsor. 

Of Wallingford Castle, the ditches 
and earthworks, which are of great ex¬ 
tent, and a fragment of a wall are the 
only remains. Donnington Castle near 
Newbury is said to have been founded 
in or near the time of Richard II. It 
is often asserted that Chaucer the 
poet was possessor and inhabitant of 
this place. Camden, who calls it Den- 



12 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


nington or Dunnington, describes it as 
a small but elegant castle, on the top of 
a woody hill, commanding a pleasant 
prospect, and lighted by windows on 
every side. It suffered so much, how¬ 
ever, during the civil war, that only a 
gateway with two towers is remaining 
now. The very sites of the castles at 
Reading, Newbury, Faringdon, and 
Brightwell, near Wallingford, are un¬ 
known. A Id worth Castle, about five 
miles south-east of East Ilsley, has 
scarcely a vestige left: some founda¬ 
tions of walls built with flints have been 
lately dug up. 

There is an old manor-house at Ap¬ 
pleton, not far from Oxford, supposed 
to be of the time of Henry II.; and 
there are other ancient manor or other 
dwelling-houses at Witham and Cum- 
nor, near Oxford; Little or East Shef- 
ford, between Newbury and Lambo urn; 
Sutton Courtney, near Abingdon ; and 
Ockholt manor-house, near Maidenhead. 
Ockholt manor-house is an ancient seat 
of the Norreys family, now a farm¬ 
house. It was built before the Reform¬ 
ation. 

During the prevalence of the Roman 
Catholic faith many religious houses 
were built and endowed in Berkshire. 
Tanner’s Notitia Monastica contains a 
list of thirty-five religious establish¬ 
ments of all kinds; three of which were 
numbered at the Reformation among 
the * greater monasteries,’ and pos¬ 
sessed a clear revenue of 200/. per 
annum. * The most important by far of 


these establishments were the Benedict¬ 
ine abbeys of Abingdon and Reading. 
Abingdon Abbey appears to have been 
originally founded upon a hill called 
Abendune, about two miles from the 
present town, nearer Oxford, by Cissa, 
a West Saxon, governor of great part 
of Berks and Wilts, under Kentwin, 
king of the West Saxons. Five years 
after its foundation this monastery was 
removed to a place then called Seve- 
kisham or Seovechesham, or Seusham, 
and since then Abbendon or Abingdon, 
and enriched by the munificence of 
Ceadwalla and Ina, kings of Wessex, 
and other benefactors. The abbey was 
destroyed by the Danes, and the monks 
deprived of their chief possessions by 
Alfred the Great; but the possessions 
were restored, and the rebuilding of the 
abbey commenced at least, by Edred, 
grandson and one of the successors of 
Alfred. Numerous benefactions in¬ 
creased the wealth of the establish¬ 
ment, and the abbot was mitred. The 
yearly income at the time of the sup¬ 
pression was 2042/. 2$. 8 d. gross, oi¬ 
ls 764 1 Os. 9c?. clear. Reading Abbey 
was also for Benedictines, and the abbot 
was mitred. This abbey was founded 
by King Henry I., a.d. 1121, and 
richly endowed. At the suppression it 
had 2116/. 3s. 9 d. gross, or 1938/. 14s. 3c?. 
clear yearly income. There are some 
remains of both these great establish¬ 
ments. Those at Reading consist of 
the gateway and of some other ruins, 
which are little more than rude heaps 


It may be mentioned here that Speed’s valuation 


is that of the gross income; Dugdale’s valuation is 
the clear yearly income. 





GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


13 


of stone, all architectural decoration 
having been defaced. The Abbey Mills 
are still remaining. At Abingdon 
some ancient rooms are [occupied as a 
brewery ; and the gateway of the aj)bey 
is, or was lately, still used as a prison. 

At Bustlesham, or Bysham Monta¬ 
gue, now Bisham, on the banks of the 
Thames, nearly opposite Marlow, in 
Buckinghamshire, was a priory for 
canons, of the order of St. Austin, 
founded 1338, by William Montacute, 
Earl of Salisbury. Their yearly revenue, 
at the suppression, was 327/. 4s. 6d. 
gross, or 285/. 11s. clear. Upon the 
surrender of this monastery to Henry 
VIII., it was refounded for the Bene¬ 
dictines, its revenue more than doubled, 
and the abbot mitred; but this new es¬ 
tablishment was also suppressed four or 
five years after. There are no remains 
of the conventual buildings, except an 
ancient doorway, now the entrance of a 
somewhat later edifice, the seat of a 
branch of the Vansittart family. 

Of the minor establishments there 
are some remains. Of the church of 
the Grey Friars (Franciscans) at Read¬ 
ing there are considerable remains, now 
used as a Bridewell: there are also 
some ruins of the Benedictine monastery 
at Hurley, between Maidenhead and 
Henley-upon-Thames, and of the build¬ 
ings for the priests and clerks of a former 
collegiate church at Wallingford, though 
the church itself has been entirely de¬ 
stroyed. The parish church at Shottes- 
broke, near Maidenhead, once belonged 
to the college of St. John the Baptist 
there. 


Of the churches of earlier date, 
Avington deserves mention, from its 
remarkable specimens of Norman (or 
as it is sometimes termed Saxon) archi¬ 
tecture. The arch which divides the 
chancel from the nave is a portion of two 
arches, and each portion being more 
than a quadrant, the arch has a depend¬ 
ing point in the middle. Portions of 
the Norman style may be observed in 
St. Nicholas Church at Abingdon, and 
in other places. Wilford Church, 
between Newbury and Lambourn, has 
a Norman round tower, surmounted by 
a portion in the early English style, 
and a spire in the decorated English. 
As some part of the body of the church 
is in the perpendicular style, this 
church contains examples of all the 
different styles of what is usually called 
Gothic architecture. Great Shefford 
Church, not far from Welford, has a 
round tower, surmounted by an octan¬ 
gular story. Shottesbroke Church is a 
beautiful miniature cross church, with 
a tower and spire at the intersection. 
Uffington church, also in the shape of a 
cross, is large and handsome. St. Law¬ 
rence’s Church at Reading has a fine 
tower of chequered Hint-work in the 
perpendicular style. 

In the civil war between Charles I. 
and the Parliament, Berkshire became 
the scene of several remarkable contests. 
Windsor was garrisoned by the parlia¬ 
ment, and continued in their possession 
throughout the war. It was once at¬ 
tacked by Prince Rupert, but he was 
unsuccessful. Wallingford was gar¬ 
risoned for the king, and continued in 



14 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


the hands of the Royalists as long as 
they were capable of making any stand. 
In 1642, the first year of the war, the 
king’s army gained possession of Read¬ 
ing, the Parliamentary garrison re¬ 
tiring upon their approach, and the 
county, with the exception of the parts 
round Windsor, came into the power of 
the Royalists; but in April, 1643, the 
Parliamentary forces, under the Earl 
of Essex and Major-General Skippon, 
retook Reading by capitulation. In the 
latter part of the same year was fought 
the first battle of Newbury, between the 
Parliamentarians, under the Earl of 
Essex, and the Royalists, commanded 
by the king in person. The victory 
was doubtful; but the action has been 
rendered memorable by the fall of the 
accomplished Lord Falkland. The 
town of Reading fell into the hands of 
the Royalists soon after, and was gar¬ 
risoned by them, but evacuated the 
following year. In 1644, Donnington 
Castle, which was held for the king by 
a garrison under Captain John Boys, 
was besieged by a strong detachment 
of the opposite party; but though the 
place was reduced to a heap of ruins, 


the gallant defenders held out and the 
Parliamentarians raised the siege upon 
the king’s approach. Shortly after 
(viz. 27th October, 1644) a second 
battl|3 was fought at Newbury, with the 
same indecisive result which attended 
the former one. The king commanded 
his own troops, and the Earls of Essex 
and Manchester, and Sir William Wal¬ 
ler, those of the parliament. No person 
of note fell in the battle. The army of 
the Earl of Essex wintered this year in 
the county, at Abingdon, Reading, &c. 
The rest of the war was not marked by 
any great event. In 1645 Sir Stephen 
Hawkins made an unsuccessful attempt 
on the Parliamentary garrison at Abing¬ 
don ; and Cromwell failed in an attack 
upon Faringdon, but fought a successful 
skirmish at Radcot Bridge in that 
neighbourhood, and took 200 prisoners. 
In 1646 Prince Rupert attacked Abing¬ 
don again, but with success. 

A slight skirmish occurred at Reading 
in 1688, and a trifling affair at Twyford, 
between Reading and Maidenhead. 
These were the only actions which oc¬ 
curred during the civil war by which 
that year was distinguished. 


AGRICULTURE AND 

The general state of agriculture in Berk¬ 
shire is neither of the most improved 
kind, nor yet to be greatly found fault 
with. The number of rich proprietors 
who hold land to some extent in their 
own hands is considerable. They em¬ 
ploy intelligent bailiffs, and improved 


RURAL ECONOMY. 

modes of cultivation are readily tried by 
them. The most perfect machines and 
implements may be found on their farms, 
and everything new finds some person 
ready to give it a trial; but there are 
many obstacles to their general adop¬ 
tion. Old methods keep a certain hold 





GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


15 


of practical men, and it is very fortunate 
that it is so ; for no new method should 
be generally adopted till long experience 
has proved its utility. The two extremes, 
of an obstinate adherence to a decidedly 
bad system, and an incautious adoption of 
new inventions are equally unreasonable. 

ROTATION OF CROPS. 

The system generally adopted through¬ 
out the county by intelligent farmers 
is only a modification of the ancient 
triennial rotation. The basis is a clean 
fallow, for which turnips are substituted 
on the light soils : then two or three 
crops of corn, with an alternation of 
clover, tares, or beans between them, 
which are considered as less exhausting. 
The nature of the crops and the recur¬ 
rence of the fallows depend on the nature 
of the land, on the seasons, and also on 
the care with which the first fallow has 
been cleaned, and the crops have been 
weeded or hoed. It is the appearance 
of weeds that gives notice of the neces¬ 
sity of a fallow. A good rotation strictly 
adhered to would be better for general 
adoption ; and a more extensive cultiva¬ 
tion of artificial grasses would keep more 
live stock, and make more manure. In 
the rich soils of the Yale great crops of 
corn are frequently obtained with little 
trouble, and this always makes careless 
farmers. They know the advantage of 
manure, and will spare no expense to 
purchase it, but the real secret of agri¬ 
culture is to make it at home and at 
the least expense, which can only be 
done by means of live stock, and raising 
food for cattle. 


SIZE OF FARMS. 

There are in Berkshire a great many 
small proprietors, or yeomen, who culti¬ 
vate their own farms, consisting of forty, 
fifty, or eighty acres. They live frugally, 
and the times do not much affect them; 
but they have no inclination to try new 
schemes; the old methods satisfy them ; 
and if they can live and pay their way 
they are contented. The number of 
occupiers employing labourers is 1711, 
and there are 458 occupiers who usually 
perform the. work of their farms with 
the assistance of their own families. 
The size of the farms in Berkshire varies 
considerably: in the chalky districts 
they are large—some containing a 
thousand acres; but in the richer soils 
they are mostly from one hundred to 
four hundred acres: in the forest dis¬ 
trict they are in general of small extent. 
Arable land lets from 10$., and even 
less, to 21. per acre; the average may 
be about 25$.; upland meadows from 
1 L to 2 1., and along the rivers 2 1. to 3/.; 
irrigated meadows 4 1. to hi. Farm out¬ 
buildings are chiefly thatched and sided 
with weather-boarding. 

IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. 

The old implements of husbandry 
have been much improved of late years. 
The heavy Berkshire plough, drawn by 
four or five horses in a line, has given 
place to the lighter Scotch and Norfolk 
ploughs with two horses abreast, or in 
very wet and stiff soils with three in a 
line ; more are seldom used, except to 
break up grass land, or when the plough¬ 
ing has been deferred till the ground is 




16 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


very hard. Improved agricultural in¬ 
struments are manufactured at New¬ 
bury and at Reading. Drilling ma¬ 
chines on the most improved principle, 
and on Cook’s plan, are made at Hook 
in Hampshire, and pretty generally 
dispersed through Berkshire. The in¬ 
troduction of these and other improved 
instruments has been much encouraged 
by the example of King George III. 
and the late Duke of Gloucester, whose 
farming establishment at Rapleys, 
near Bagshot Park, was on the most 
improved principles. Drilling the seed 
is becoming more general than it used 
to be ; and several professional drill- 
men find it a profitable employment of 
a small capital to purchase the most 
improved machines, with which they 
drill the seed for the smaller farmers, 
who cannot afford such expensive imple¬ 
ments. The farmer finds the horses 
and a man to drive them, and sends the 
drill to its next destination when his 
eorn is drilled. The price paid for the 
use of the drilling machine is from 1 s. 6 d. 
to 2$. per acre, with food for the drill- 
man, who is the proprietor of the drill, 
or his servant. They drill about ten 
or twelve acres in a day, with two horses 
and two men. This division of labour, 
which is a certain sign of improvement, 
is chiefly found in the best cultivated 
districts, as in Essex, Suffolk, and Nor¬ 
folk, where there are still many small 
farms. 

Threshing machines were common 
in many parts of the county, both fixed 
and moveable ; but during the disturb¬ 
ances in 1831 many of them were de¬ 


stroyed, and the corn is now chiefly 
threshed by hand, there being always a 
superabundance of agricultural la¬ 
bourers. 

MARKET GARDENS. 

Near Reading there are considerable 
garden grounds, the soil being deep and 
good, and the produce coming earlier 
to maturity than in any other part of 
the county. The onions, and especially 
the asparagus, of Reading, are remark¬ 
ably fine, and in great demand in the 
season. Orchards are not very nume¬ 
rous, and fewer than they were at one 
time, when cider was a more common 
beverage of the farmer. The apples 
which grow in the Vale, where there 
are some good orchards, are mostly sent 
to London. About Wantage are some 
cherry orchards, the produce of which 
is great in good years, but it is a very 
precarious crop. 

COPPICES AND OSIERIES. 

The coppices in general are valuable ; 
and where water-carriage is near, which 
is the case in almost every part of the 
county, the produce is sent to London, 
in the shape of hoops, broomsticks, and 
other rough manufactures. They are 
usually cut every ten years, and when 
well managed produce from 10/. to 15/. 
per acre, at every cutting. 

Along the Thames, and in the low 
islands which are frequently covered 
with water, there are numerous osier 
beds, which are cut every year to make 
baskets, and are considered as a very 
valuable property. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


17 


CATTLE, &C. 

There is no peculiar breed of cattle 
indigenous in Berkshire, and those ge¬ 
nerally met with are imported from 
Devonshire, Herefordshire, and York¬ 
shire. The Glamorganshire cows are 
in considerable repute in some districts ; 
but the breeds are much mixed and 
crossed, and not always with the great¬ 
est attention or judgment. Alderney 
cows, which are annually imported, are 
very common for the supply of butter 
and cream in gentlemen's families. 
Some very good cows have been pro¬ 
duced by crosses of Alderneys with 
larger breeds. Oxen are not generally 
used in agriculture, although a few 
teams are kept on some large farms, 
and the work of the king’s Norfolk farm 
in Windsor Park was at one time en¬ 
tirely done by oxen. They are still 
employed in carting, rolling, and draw¬ 
ing timber in the park, where the sod 
being soft for their feet, they can work 
without being shod. They are worked 
four at a time, and only five days in the 
week, and in this manner stand their 
work well. 

A considerable number of horses are 
bred in Berkshire, chiefly of the cart 
kind ; and many colts are brought 
young from Northamptonshire, and 
kept for two or three years with gentle 
work. They are then sent to London 
as dray horses, and in general obtain 
very good prices. In this manner 
horses used in husbandry, instead of 
losing in value, are often a source of 
greater profit than oxen worked two or 
three years, and then fatted off. 


No great quantity of fat cattle is sent 
from Berkshire to London. In the 
Vale of White Horse there are many 
dairies, and the cheese made here is 
known in the London market under the 
name of single and double Gloucester, 
and North Wiltshire. In the eastern 
part of the county a good many calves 
are suckled, and are found on the whole 
more profitable than butter or cheese, 
and attended with much less trouble: 
but the chief advantage of calves is the 
addition which they make to the dung 
of the yard, when they have a liberal 
allowance of straw often renewed. This 
also constitutes the chief profit of keep¬ 
ing pigs. 

The breed of pigs in Berkshire is one 
of the best in England. They are not 
of a very large size, although many, fat¬ 
tened at two years old, weigh twenty 
score when killed, and some even more 
The most common weight is from twelve 
to fifteen score : the bone is small, and 
they fatten at an early age and on little 
food — two important qualities. The 
true Berkshire breed is black with white 
spots, but some are quite white: their 
snouts are short, jowls thick, and then- 
ears stand up. A mixed breed, pro¬ 
duced by crossing the Berkshire with 
the Chinese and Neapolitan breeds, 
possesses improved qualities, although 
rather susceptible of cold from being 
nearly without hair; but they are su¬ 
perior to most breeds for getting rapidly 
fat, and keeping in excellent condition 
on pasture, with very little additional 
food. G. H. Crutchley, Esq., of Sun- 
ning-hill Park, has a choice breed of this 

c 



18 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


kind ; and most of the cottagers’ pigs 
in the Forest district are of a superior 
description. Bacon is the principal 
animal food of the labourers, and they 
are good j udges of its qualities. 

The Berkshire sheep, called the not, 
was a large polled sheep, with coarse 
wool, useful for the fold on cold clay 
soils, hut coarse in the carcase. It is 
now almost superseded by an improved 
breed produced by crosses from the old 
sheep and the Leicesters, and by the 
South Down, which are now the favour¬ 
ite breeds. Some of the Cotswold 
sheep, crossed with the Leicester, pro¬ 
duce a large sheep, which gets very fat, 
and carries a heavy fleece of long wool: 
some of these were lately purchased to 
send to Belgium, to improve the sheep 
in that country. Merinos were intro¬ 
duced by George III., who had a flock 
from Spain, and were at first in great 
request, on account of the fineness of 
their wool; but they have not proved a 
profitable stock, owing perhaps to want 
of proper management, and chiefly be¬ 
cause they did not produce so good car¬ 


cases for the butcher, which is now the 
chief profit of the sheep. In Saxony 
the wool is the principal object; and so 
much attention has been paid to the 
Spanish flocks transplanted into that 
country, that their wool exceeds the 
original Spanish wool in fineness. Be¬ 
fore the inclosure of Windsor Forest 
there was a breed of small ragged-look¬ 
ing sheep, with a light fleece of toler¬ 
ably good short wool, called the heath 
sheep, which, when fatted at three or 
four years old, produced the fine fla¬ 
voured Bagshot mutton, much prized by 
gourmands. These sheep were bred 
and kept in the wastes of the forest, 
and sent annually in large flocks into 
Buckinghamshire to be folded on the 
fallows. Not being well attended to, 
many of them died ; and sometimes, in 
a wet spring, whole flocks were sw^ept 
off by the rot; they cost the proprietor 
little, and produced in general but small 
profit: they may still be seen, although 
in diminished numbers, on the heaths 
of Surrey and Hampshire which are 
still uninclosed. 


POLITICAL TOPOGRAPHY. 


CIVIL DIVISIONS. 

When the Domesday Survey was 
made Berkshire was divided into twenty- 
two hundreds; Wallingford and Windsor 
were assessed separately. The hun¬ 
dreds have since been reduced to twenty, 
of which eleven retain their ancient 
names under a somewhat modernised 


form. An attempt was made by Lord 
Chancellor Clarendon to transfer to 
Berkshire that part of the parish of 
Wokingham which is part of Wiltshire, 
although surrounded by Berks; but the 
bill was rejected. A modem attempt 
(a. d. 1825) failed in like manner. 
( Rickman, Preface to Population Re - 






GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


19 


turns.) We give the ancient hundreds, 
placing in a line with them the modern 
hundreds, with which they for the most 
part coincide, and also the part of the 
county in which they are situated. N. 
north; S. south, &c.; C. central. 


Ancient. 

Benes, or Beners 

Blitberie (Blewbury.) 
Borchedeberie, or Bor- 
cheldeberie, (Buc- 
klebury) 

Bray 

Cerledtme 


Cheneteberie ,} ■, , 

Eglei, ^united 

Eletesford, Helites- 
ford,or Hesliteford. 
Gamesfel 
Hilleslau 
Hornimere 

Lamborne, or Lam- 
bourn 

Merceham (Marcham) 
Nachededorne 


Radinges or Redinges 

Riplesmere 

Roeberg 

Seriveham,or Shriven- 
ham 

Sudtone (Sutton) 

Tacceham (Thatch- 
am) 

Wanating, or Want¬ 
ing. 

Wifol 


Camden gives the 


Modern. 

Barnesh, or Beyn- 
hurst, E. 

Moreton, N.E. 

F aircross, C. and S. 
and Reading, N.E. 

Bray, E. 

Charlton, S., Son- 
ning, or Sunning, 
E., Wargrave, E. 

Kintbury-Eagle, C. 
and S.W. 

Moreton, N.E., and 
Cookham, S.E. 

Ganfield, N.W. 

Shrivenham, N.W. 

Hornier, N. 

Lam bourn, W. 

Ock, N. and N.E. 

Compton, C., and 
Faircross C., and 
S. _ 

Reading, & Theale, 
N.E. 

Ripplesmere, and 
Wargrave, E. 

Faircross, C. and S. 

Shrivenham, N.W. 

Ock, or Oke, N. 
and N.E. 

Faircross, C. and 
S., and Reading 
N.E. 

Wantage, C. 

Faringdon, N.W., 
and Shrivenham 


E. 

number of parishes 


in the county at 140 ; Lysons gives 
them at 148. By a comparison of the 
lists contained in the population returns 
with the best maps, the number may he 
thus stated :—Parishes wholly in Berks, 
142 ; parishes partly in other counties, 
but which have either the church or the 
principal group of houses in Berkshire, 
and may be therefore reckoned in that 
county, 9; parishes partly included in 
Berks, but chiefly in other counties, 5 ; 
total, 156. The parishes which, though 
partly in other counties may be most 
properly reckoned in Berkshire, are Sun¬ 
ning, Langford, and Shilton (partly in 
Oxfordshire), andColeshill, Hungerford, 
Hurst (parochial chapelry), Shalbourn, 
Shinfield, and Wokingham (partly in 
Wilts). The parishes which rather 
belong to other counties are Great Bar¬ 
rington, (chiefly in Gloucestshire), St. 
Aldate’s (chiefly in the city of Oxford). 
Strathfieldsay (chiefly in Hants), and 
Inglesham and Swallowfield (chiefly in 
Wilts). The number of places making 
returns, under the census of 1831, was 
222 . 

The number of vicarages is consider¬ 
able ; in Lysons’s Magna Britannia , 
where the parishes are given at 148, the 
number of vicarages is given at 67. The 
county is wholly in the diocese of Salis¬ 
bury, and in the ecclesiastical province 
of Canterbury, and forms an arch¬ 
deaconry by itself: the archdeacon takes 
his title from the county. It is divided 
into four rural deaneries—Abingdon, 
Newbury, Reading, and Wallingford. 
The following is a Table of the value of 
the Livings, as exhibited in the Report 
c 2 



20 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


of the “ Commissioners appointed to 


inquire into the Ecclesiastical Re¬ 

venues,” 1835 :— 

£. 

Abingdon, St. Helen’s, V. with St. 

Nicholas, R.225 

Aldermaston, V.* 

Appleton. R.307 

Arborfield, R.345 

Aldington, V. * 

Ashbury, V.375 

Aston Tirrold, R.233 

Avington, R.300 

Barkham. R.350 

Basildon, V., with Ashampstead, C.. 255 

Beedon, V.126 

Beenham Valence, V.211 

Binfield, R.628 

Bisham, V.156 

Bishopston, V.208 

Bishopstone, R. and V. . . . . 806 

Bishopstrow, R.220 

Blakeland, R. ..160 

Blewbury, V., with Aston Upthorpe, 

C., and Upton, C.161 

Bradfield, R. ....... 788 

Bray, V.500 

Bright Waltham, R.700 

Bright well, R. 674 

Brimpton, V..* 

Buckland, V. ..291 

Buckiebury, V., with Marlston, C. . 453 

Burghfield, R.810 

Buscot, R.450 

Catmere, R.180 

Chaddleworth, V.272 

Chalfield, R.162 

Charlton, V. ....... 100 

Chieveley, V., with Oare, C., Winter¬ 
bourne, C., and Leckhampstead, 

C.1,174 

Childrey, R. ..604 

Chilton, R.400 

Cholsey, V., with Moulsford, C. . . 358 

Clewer, R.468 

Compton, V.330 

Compton Basset, R.497 

Compton Beauchamp, R.333 

Cookham, V.300 


£. 

Denchworth, V. •*..•••130 

Dudcote, R. ....... 397 

Eaton Hastings, R.280 

Enborne, R.416 

Engle field, R.303 

Farnborough, R.291 

Faringdon, Great, V., with Little 

Coxwell, C.265 

Finchampstead, R. ..... 500 

Frilsham, R.131 

Fyfield, P. C.125 

Garston, East, V. .'..... 239 

Grove in Wantage, P. C. ... 30 

Hagborn, V.165 

Hampstead, East, R.478 

Hampstead Norris, V.. .... 400 

Hampstead Marshall, R. . . • • 269 

Hanney, V., with Lyford, C.. . . 205 

Halford, R.322 

Hendred, East, R. ..... . 544 

Hendred, West, V.613 

Hinksey, North, P. C.105 

Hinksey, South, P. C. with Woot- 

ton, C. 183 

Hinton Waldrist, R. .. • . * . 370 

Hurley, V.163 

Usley, East, R.645 

Usley, West, R.537 

Inkpen, R. 520 

Kingston Bagpuze, R.298 

Kintbury, V.607 

Lambourn, V.104 

Letcomb Basset, R.215 

Letcomb Regis, V., with East 

Challow, C.200 

Lockinge, East, R.400 

Longworth, R., with Charney, C. . 682. 

Maidenhead, St. Andrew and St. 

Mary, C. 172 

Mareham, V., with Garford, C. . . 455 

Milton, R.. . * 

Moreton, North, V.83 

Moreton, South, R. .199 

Newbury, R.455 

Overton, V., with Fyfield, V., and 

Alton Priors, C.319 

Padworth, R.240 

Pangbourn, R.. 430 


* No Return. 


* No Return. 



































































GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


21 


£. 

Peasemore, R.950 

Prince’s Harwell, V. 220 

Purley, R.231 

Pusey, R.163 

Reading, St. Giles, V.522 

Reading, St. Lawrence, V. . . • 276 

Reading, St. Mary, V.661 

Remenham, R.337 

Ruscomb, P. C.30 

Sandhurst, P. C.118 

Shalbourn, V.271 

Shaw, R. . . ..474 

Shefford, East, R.400 

Shefford, West,R.856 

Shellingford, R.497 

Shrivenham, V., with Longcot, C. . 676 

Sonning.. . 451 


Sparsholt, V.,with Kingston Lisle, C. 363 
Speen, V., with Speenhamland, C. . 424 

Stanford Dingley, R.275 

Stanford-in-the-Vale, with Goosey, 


C.337 

Straifield Mortimer, V., . . . . 176 

Streatley, V.276 

Sulham, R.. .* 

Sulhampstead Abbott’s, R. with 

Sulhampstead Bannister, R.. . 600 

Sunninghill, V.328 

Sunningwell. R., with Kennington, 

C.‘ . ... . 318 

Sutton Courtney, V.,with Appleford, 

C. . . ..148 

Thatcham, V., with Greenham, C., 

and Midgham, C.420 

Tidmarsh, R.223 

Tilehurst. V., with Tht-ale, C. • . * 

Tubney, R. .120 

Uffington, V., with Woolstone, C., 


Wallingford, St. Leonard’s, R., with 

Sotewell, C.153 

Wallingford, St. Mary, R. • • • • 137 

Wallingford, St. Peter, R.100 

Waltham, St. Lawrence, V. . . . 211 

Wantage, V.503 

Warfield, V. . 150 

Wargrave, V.226 

Wasing, ..100 


• No Return. 


£. 

Welford, R., with Wickham, C. . . 1,364 

Windsor, New, V.400 

Windsor, Old, V.270 

Winkfield, V.343 

Wittenham, Earl’s, V.166 

Wittenham, Little, R.400 

Wokingham, P. C.126 

Woodhay, West, R.260 

Woolhampton, R.202 

Wytham, R.306 

Yattendon, R.384 

Berkshire is in the Oxford circuit: 
Reading and Abingdon are the assize 
towns. The Lent or Spring assizes 
are held at Reading, the Summer 
assizes at Abingdon. The quarter 
sessions for the county are held as 
follow: Epiphany at Reading, Easter 
at Newbury, Hilary at Abingdon, and 
Michaelmas either at Abingdon or 
Reading, as the magistrates shall de¬ 
termine. There are six divisions of 
petty sessions, and in 1831 there were 
123 acting county magistrates. 

Nine members are returned to parlia¬ 
ment from Berkshire—three for the 
county itself, two each for Reading and 
New Windsor, and one each for Abing¬ 
don and Wallingford. The number 
of county electors in 1836 was 5632, of 
whom 4779 voted at the general election 
in 1837 ; the number of electors in each 
hundred being as follows:— 


Beynhurst . 

137 

Bray . 

235 

Charlton 

233 

Compton 

. 104 

Cookham . 

325 

Faircross 

726* 

Faringdon . 

184 

Ganfield 

160 

Hormer 

244f 


* Bright-Waltham omitted 


+ One parish omitted. 











































22 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


Kentbury Eagle . . 408 

Lambourn . . . 123 

Moreton . . . 340 

Ock . . . . 291* 

Reading . . • 754 

Ripplesmere . . 391 

Shrivenham . . 202 

Sonning . . . 269 

( Theale . . . 160f 

Wantage . . . 385 

Wargrave . . . 172 


The only change in the number of 
members made by the Reform Bill was 
to reduce the members for Wallingford 
from tw r o to one, for Abingdon previously 
returned only one, and to give one 
additional county member. The county 
members are nominated at Abingdon, 
and the poll for the county is taken 
at Beading, Abingdon, Newbury,Wan¬ 
tage, Wokingham, Maidenhead, Great 
•Faringdon, and East Ilsley. Abingdon 
was the place where the poll was taken 
in case of a contest before the Reform 
Bill. Abingdon, Maidenhead, Newbury, 
Reading, Wallingford, and Windsor 
are incorporated municipal boroughs. 

POPULATION AND OCCUPATIONS. 


The absolute population of Berkshire, 
at each of the four enumerations made 
in this century was :— 


Years. 

Males. 

Females, 

Total. 

Incr. per Cent, 

1801 

52,821 

56,394 

109,215 

1811 

57,360 

60,917 

118,277 

8’29 

1821 

65,546 

66,431 

131,977 

11-58 

1831 

72,553 

72,836 

145,389 

10-08 


Showing an increase between the first 
and last enumerations of 36,174 persons, 
or 33 per cent. This is considerably 
below the rate of increase in the whole 
of England, which amounted, in the 

* Lyford omitted. f Padworth and Wokefield 
omitted. 


same period, to 57 per cent. The popu¬ 
lation is 195 per square mile, while the 
average for the whole of England is 259. 
The density of the population in Hants, 
Bucks, Norfolk and Suffolk is nearly 
the same as in Berks, these counties 
varying only from 193 to 198 per square 
mile. 

The ages of the population in the 
county, so far as the same could be 
ascertained in 1821, were as follow. 
The experiment proved less successful 
in this than in some other counties, the 
ages of 88 only in 100 having been 
returned: in the adjoining county of 
Bucks the return comprised more than 
98 persons out of 100. 


Under 5 

years 


Males. 

8,908 

Females. 

8,472 

Total. 

17,380 

5 to 10 


8,566 

8,014 

16,580 

10 „ 15 



7,318 

6,807 

14,125 

15 „ 20 



6,056 

5,836 

11,892 

20 „ 30 



8,837 

9,800 

7,316 

18,637 

30 „ 40 



6,795 

14,111 

40 „ 50 



5,740 

5,983 

11,723 

50 „ 60 



4,386 

4,352 

8,738 

60 „ 70 



3,030 

3,132 

6,162 

70 „ 80 



1,719 

1,712 

3,431 

80 „ 90 



468 

552 

1,020 

90 .,100 


, # 

30 

41 

71 

100 years 

and upwards 

1 

2 

3 




61,854 

62,019 

123,873 


The number of persons between the 
ages of 20 and 50, for the whole of 
England, is 3708 out of 10,000 ; in 
Berkshire out of the same number the 
proportion is 3590. A considerable 
number of the population resort for 
employment to London and other places 
out of the county, but chiefly to the 
metropolis, where the population be¬ 
tween the ages of 20 and 50 is 4522 out 
of 10,000 persons. Berkshire being a 
more wealthy county than some of 
those situated within the same distance 













GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


23 


of London, the number of persons who 
leave it in search of employment is not 
so great. For example, there are 2432 
more male and female servants in 
Berkshire than in Bucks, although the 
population of the latter county is 
rather larger; and the number of 
males in the latter county in 1821, 
whose ages were between 20 and 50, 
was only 3137 out of 10,000. 

Berkshire is an agricultural county, 
and ranks in this respect fourteenth 
among the counties of England. At the 
census of 1831 it was found that among 
37,084 males, twenty years of age and 
upwards, residing within the county, 
no more than 521 were employed in 
manufactures, or in making manufac¬ 
turing machinery. Out of this number, 
nearly 300 were employed in making 
mats and sacking at Abingdon, and 
sail-cloth there and elsewhere; about 
100 were engaged in silk manufactures 
at Reading and Newbury, and 25 in 
copper-mills at Bisham. The proportions 
in which the inhabitants of the county 
were divided into the leading classes of 
employment at the enumerations of 
1811,1821, and 1831, were as follow :— 

1811. 1821. 1831. 

Agriculture (families in 100) 53*5 53 3 45"2 

Trade, manufactures, &c. . 3L - 3 31 *7 31*8 

Other classes.16*2 15 23 

The following is an abstract of the 
Population Returns for the county: 
the population of the larger places 


will be noticed in their particular de¬ 
scriptions :— 


Houses. 

Inhabited. 

Families . . . . . . 

Building. 

Uninhabited. 

Occupations. 

Families chiefly employed in 
agriculture .... 

„ ,, trade, manu¬ 

factures and handicraft 
All other families not com¬ 
prised in the two preceding 

classes . 

Persons 

Males .. 

Females. 

Total of Persons ..... 
Males twenty years of age . . 

Agriculture. 

Occupiers employing labourers . 
,, not employing la¬ 
bourers . 

Labourers employed in Agricul¬ 
ture . 

Other Occupations. 

Employed in manufacture, or in 
making manufacturing ma¬ 
chinery . 

Employed in retail trade, or in 
handicraft as masters or work¬ 
men .. . 

Capitalists, hankers, professional 
and other educated men 
Labourers employed in labour, 
not agricultural .... 
Other males twenty years of age 
(except servants) .... 
Male servants, twenty years of 

age. 

,, under twenty 

years of age. 

Female servants. 


28,032 

31,081 

234 

975 


14,047 

9,884 


7,150 

72,553 

72.836 

145,389 

37,084 

1711 

458 

14,802 


521 


10,758 

1,447 

3708 

2224 


1455 

810 

0022 


















21 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


CIVIC ECONOMY. 


LOCAL TAXATION AND EXPENDITURE. 

The sum raised by assessment for the 
poor’s rate, county rate, and other local 
purposes in the year ending 25th March, 
1833, amounted to 136,400/.: it was 
levied upon the following description of 
property:— 

On land . . . £101,749 13 

„ Dwelling-houses . 29,861 4 

„ Mills, factories, &c. . 3,298 11 

„ Manorial profits, navigation, &c 1,490 12 

£136,400 0 

The valuation for the [assessment of 
the county rate is 707,827/.: in 1815, 
the county was assessed under the pro¬ 
perty-tax as follows:—Real Property 
at 720,630/., annual value; Profits of 
Trade &c. 299,992/. The amount of real 
property assessed under each head was : 
—Land, 502,096/.; Houses, 140,211/.; 
Tithes, 67.511/.; Manors, 209/.; Fines, 
5812/.; Profit of Iron works, &c., 
4506/. ; Miscellaneous, 285/. 

The county assessment for the year 
ending 25th March, 1838, amounted to 
73,306/., and the expenditure for the 
same period amounting to 76,187/., was 
on account of the following objects :— 

Relief and maintenance of the poor, in¬ 
cluding 1145/. fdr medical relief . . £59,286 

Removal of paupers. Law charges, &c., 1,693 

Payments for or towards the County rates 10,966 
Fees to Clergymen and Registrars under 

Registration Act .... 172 

Registrars’ offices, books and forms, ditto. 140 
Payments under Parochial Assessments Act 265 
Ditto for all other purposes . . 3,665 

.£76,187 

The county expenditure for various 
purposes, exclusive of the relief of the 


poor, was as follows in 1833, the latest 
time to which any statement has been 
given :— 

Bridges and roads leading to them £986 
Gaols . . . . 2090 

Expenses of criminal trials at quart, sess. 631 


99 

„ circuits. 

657 

yy 

coroners 

128 

yy 

shire halls. 

13 

yy 

lunatic asylums . 

34 

99 

printing,bailiff, marshal, &c. 359 

T9 

conveying prisoners to gaol 

178 

55 

clerk of assize 

41 

99 

conveying vagrants 

997 


In 1792 the expenditure amounted 
to 1874/.; in 1802, to 3033/.; in 1812, 
to 6776/.; in 1822, to 8475/.; in 1832, 
to 9560/. The sum levied for county 
rate in 1833 was 11,207/. 18s. The 
accounts are examined on the first day 
of quarter sessions in the grand jury 
room, adjoining to the court, and from 
this examination no person is excluded. 

PAUPERISM. 

Perhaps no county is more famous in the 
annals of pauperism than Berkshire. At 
Speenhamland, on the 6th of May, 1795, 
was framed the original Bread Table, 
often called by paupers the “Speen¬ 
hamland Act of Parliament.” By this 
table “ the parish allowance was syste¬ 
matically substituted for the wages of 
labour; the industrious man was 
brought down to the same level with 
him that was content to eat the bread 
of idleness; independence was discou¬ 
raged, improvidence rewarded, and the 
labouring class was proclaimed free of 







GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


25 


those moral restraints which act so 
beneficially on all other classes of the 
community.”* The table professed to 
“show at one view what should be the 
weekly income of the industrious poor.” 
Thus, “ when the gallon loaf of second 
flour, weighing 8lbs. lloz., shall cost 
Is., then every poor and industrious man 
shall have for his own support 3s. 
weekly, either procured by his own or 
his family's labour, or an allowance 
from the poor’s rates; and for the sup¬ 
port of his wife and every other of his 
family, Is. 6 d.” According to the table, 
on every penny which the loaf rose 
above Is. the sum of 3c?. was allowed to 
the man, and Id. to every other mem¬ 
ber of his family. But if the most dis¬ 
astrous plan in connexion with the wel¬ 
fare of the poor which was ever acted 
upon in any country originated in Berk¬ 
shire, the parishes of Cookham, Swal- 
lowfield, and Leckhamstead in the same 
county, offered also the first examples 
of the process of dispauperising those 
whom the Speenhamland Bread Table 
had both morally and physically de¬ 
graded. The principles acted upon 
at Cookham under the judicious and 
zealous management of the Rev. Mr. 
Whately, led to the gradual elevation 
of the population in that parish, while 
in surrounding parishes, in which a con¬ 
trary system was followed, the labourers 
every year sunk deeper into the slough 
of pauperism. The plan so successfully 
adopted at Cookham indicated the me¬ 
thods to be pursued when the legisla¬ 

* First Annual Report of the Poor Law 
Commissioners. 


ture resolved upon affecting the work of 
regeneration on a large scale. The 
first Poor Law Union formed in 
England was the Abingdon Union, 
declared 1st January, 1835. 

The sums expended for the relief of 
the poor in Berkshire at the four decen¬ 
nary years of enumeration within the pre¬ 
sent century were very much greater in 
proportion than for the whole of Eng¬ 
land, as the following table will show:— 


Expended Average for each Inhabitant. 



for Relief. 

Berks. 

England & Wales. 


£. 

s. d . 

S. 

d. 

1801 

81,994 

15 0 

9 

1 

1811 

160,873 

27 2 

13 

1 

1821 

104,338 

115,070 

15 9 

10 

7 

1831 

15 10 

9 

9 


In the course of the year 1835 twelve 
unions were formed in the county, each 
of the following places being the centre 
of a Union: Abingdon, Bradfield, Cook¬ 
ham, Easthampstead, Faringdon, Hun- 
gerford, Newbury, Reading, Walling¬ 
ford, Wantage, Windsor, Wokingham; 
and by the end of the parochial year 
1838 (March 25th), a saving of 40,372/. 
or 54‘per cent, had been effected in the 
expenditure, without the claims of the 
indigent having been neglected, and 
with very valuable effects upon the 
labourers. There is not a single parish 
in the county which is not included in 
a Poor Law Union. Some of the Berk¬ 
shire Unions comprise parishes in the 
adjoining counties. The following 
table shows the area and population of 
each Union ; the average annual ex¬ 
penditure of the three years preceding 
its formation, and the sum expended in 
the year ending 25th March, 1837. 





26 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


Niime of Union. 

No. of 
Parishes. 

Area in 
sq. Miles. 

Population 
in 1831. 

Average 
Expend, of 
the vears 
1832-3-4. 

Expenditure 
of Year 
ending 25th 
March, 1837. 

Abingdon 


38 

77 

16,654 

£ 6,795 

£ 4,467 

Bradfield . 


29 

106 

14,682 

12,753 

7,898 

Cookham 


7 

48 

10,517 

3,946 

3,139 

Easthampstead . 


5 

43 

6,980 

2,700 

1,990 

Faringdon 


31 

101 

14,236 

13,124 

5,997 

Hungerford . 


20 

150 

18,556 

16,073 

8,440 

Newbury 


18 

72 

19,054 

15,756 

9,246 

Reading . 


3 

8 

16,042 

8,179 

5,268 

Wallingford . 


28 

68 

12,219 

13,017 

6,805 

Wantage. . » 


33 

128 

15,917 

17,120 

9,190 

Windsor . 


6 

35 

15,986 

8,368 

5,119 

Wokingham . 


16 

67 

11,888 

8,153 

4,763 


' If the process of dispauperising pro¬ 
ceed as rapidly as it has hitherto done, 
Berkshire will, in the course of a few 
years, he assimilated to those parts of 
England where a “ Bread Table" and 
the evils of the allowance system have 
been practically unknown. The ex¬ 
penditure for the relief of the poor in 
Berkshire in the years 1834-5-6-7, 
and the sums expended per head, in re¬ 
ference to the population of 1831, both in 
Berkshire, and in England and Wales, 
were as under:— 


Years. 

Expended 

Average for each Inhabitant. 

for Relief. 

Berks. 

England & Wales. 


£. 

S. d. 

s. d. 

1834 

100.183 

13 9 

9 1 

1835 

86,435 

11 11 

7 11 

1836 

65,343 

9 0 

6 9 

1837 

56,61S 

7 9 

5 1 


CRIME. 

The number of persons charged with 
the commission of criminal offences in 
Berkshire in the three septennial periods 
ending with 1820, 1827, and 1834 were 
912, 1113 and 1505 respectively, being 


an"average of 130 annually in the first 
period of 159 in the second period, and 
of 215 in the last septennial. In the 
following years the numbers were as 
under:— 



1334 . 

1835 . 

1836 . 

1837 . 

1838 . 

1833 . 

Committed . 

250 

189 

205 

270 

290 

324 

Convicted 

. 87 

55 

68 

82 

101 

211 

Acquitted .. 

163 

134 

137 

188 

189 

113 


The proportion of criminal offenders 
to the population was about 1 in 600, 
which is lower than the proportion for 
the whole of England. The proportion 
convicted was 1 in 3 for the above years, 
while in the four years ending 1837 the 
proportion for England and Wales was 
2 in 7. The increase in the number 
of offenders must not be taken absolutely 
as a proof of the increase of crime, as 
the greater efficiency of the police and 
the greater facilities in criminal proceed¬ 
ings may have led to apprehensions and 
prosecution^which under other circum¬ 
stances would not have occurred. The 
degree of instruction which the 290 per¬ 
sons committed in 1838 had received 
















GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


27 


was ascertained, with the exception of 
11 individuals ; and it appeared that 
of the remaining 279, only 17 could 
read and write well; 160 could read 
and write imperfectly, that is, scarcely 
to a sufficient extent to be practically 
useful, and 102 could not read or write 
at all. The offences with which the 
above 290 persons were charged do not 
testify unfavourably to the character of 
the population of Berkshire, offences 
against the person being fewer in pro¬ 
portion than for the whole of England 
and Wales; but pilfering and acts of 
petty larceny appear to be the most 
prevalent cases which come under the 
cognisance of the law within the county. 
In 1838 there were 194 persons charged 
with simple larceny out of 290, the total 
number committed for offences of every 
class. 

education. 

According to returns made by order of 
the House of Commons in 1833,thenum- 
ber of daily schools in Berkshire was 511, 
at which 16,574 children received in¬ 
struction. In this enumeration 23 in¬ 
fant schools are included which were 
attended by 693 children. There were 
also 225 Sunday schools, attended by 
14,113 children. There are no means 
for ascertaining the number of scholars 
who attended both Sunday and daily 
schools, but even admitting that no 
duplicate return of children was made, 
and that the number of children re¬ 
ceiving instruction was, as appears from 
the Return, 30,687, there would remain 
about 20,000 children from the ages of 


2 to 15 who were not attending any 
school. This proportion, however, is 
about the average of many other coun¬ 
ties. Seventy-three boarding schools 
were included in the 511 daily schools. 
Lending libraries were attached to 21 
of the common day and Sunday schools. 

savings’ banks. 

There are ten savings’ banks within 
the county, at Abingdon, Faringdon, 
Hungerford, Maidenhead, Newbury, 
Reading, Twyford, Wantage, Windsor, 
and Wokingham. The number of de¬ 
positors and amount of deposits on the 
20th November, 1834-5-6-7-8 were re¬ 
spectively as follow :— 

Number of depositors :—■ 

1834. 1835. 1836. 1837. 1838. 

7,937 8,347 8,889 9,133 9,639 

Amount of deposits:— 

£260,425 266,672 276,971 285,537 301,980 
On the 20th November, 183?, the ac¬ 
counts in the different savings’ banks of 
the county stood as follows:— 


Not exceeding £20 

Depositors. 

5089 

Deposits. 

37,192 

50 

2327 

72,393 

100 

1073 

75,226 

150 

386 

47,536 

200 

186 

32,485 

Above 200 

72 

20,705 

Total . . 

. 9133 

285,537 


The number of depositors of sums of 
£20 and under in each 1000 of the 
population of Berkshire in 1835 was 31, 
the numbers for the same amount of 
population in all other parts of England 
being 18: there were 57 depositors of 
every class in Berkshire to 1000 of the 
population, the proportion for England 
being 35. 




28 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


MEANS OF COMMUNICATION AND TRAFFIC. 


ROADS. 

The principal roads which pass 
through Berkshire are those from Lon¬ 
don to Bath and Oxford. Both these 
enter the county at Maidenhead, a 
little beyond which they separate, 
the Oxford road running nearly due 
west to Henley, where it leaves the 
county; and the Bath road running 
south-west to Reading. There are two 
other roads from London to Reading, 
both of which pass through Egliam in 
Surrey, and, separating there, run 
nearly parallel to each other, until they 
reunite a feyv miles before they reach 
Reading. From this town the Bath 
road passes through Newbury and Hun- 
gerford, just after which it enters Wilt¬ 
shire. The principal other roads are 
one from London to Cirencester, which, 
branching off from the Oxford road 
near Nettlebed in Oxfordshire, runs 
through Wallingford and Wantage: 
another road to Cirencester, which, 
branching off from the Oxford road at 
Dorchester (Oxfordshire), runs through 
Abingdon, and uniting with the first- 
mentioned road at Faringdon, crosses 
the Thames at St. John’s Bridge, near 
Lechlade, into Gloucestershire: one 
from Oxford to Kingsclere and Whit¬ 
church (Hants), and so to Winchester 
and Southampton, which, entering Berk¬ 
shire near Wallingford, runs through 
it in a southern direction into Hamp¬ 
shire, without passing through any 
market-town except Wallingford: one 


from Oxford by Abingdon and East 
Usley to Newbury, from which town 
two branches run, one to Andover 
(Hants) and the other to Whitchurch 
(Hants) ; two from Oxford to Hunger- 
ford, one by Wantage, and one by 
Abingdon; one from Lambourn to 
Newbury, and one from Reading to 
Basingstoke in Hampshire. There is a 
road from Reading to Wallingford which 
nearly follows the winding of the 
Thames. From Wallingford to Abing¬ 
don there is a road which in no 
instance deviates far from the Thames: 
a short distance from Wallingford it 
crosses the river into Oxfordshire, and 
does not re-enter Berkshire until it re¬ 
crosses theThames just before it reaches 
Abingdon. The river may be crossed 
at many points where ferries are esta¬ 
blished. These ferries are indicated 
on the map. 

The turnpike roads in Berkshire are 
good, as are also the parochial roads in 
the south-eastern part, especially about 
Reading. The parochial roads in the 
Vale of White Horse are deep and 
miry, and in winter almost impassable. 

The number of turnpike trusts in the 
county in 1829 w T as twenty, having 319 
miles of road under their charge, the an¬ 
nual income of which, derived from tolls 
and parish compositions, amounted to 
15,388?. and the annual outlay for re¬ 
pairs and management was 15,092/. 
In 1835 several of the trusts having been 
consolidated, there were fifteen instead 




GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


29 


of twenty; the annual income amounted 
to 19,640/., including 15,819/. from tolls 
alone; and the total expenditure was 
18,609/., including 2473/. interest on 
debt, which amounted to 55,865/. 

RAILWAY. 

The Great Western Railway from Lon¬ 
don to Bath and Bristol, which has its 
London terminus at Paddington, after 
passing through or near Acton, Ealing, 
Hanwell, Southall, Slough and Salthill, 
enters Berkshire a few hundred yards 
south of Maidenhead by a viaduct over 
the Thames. From Maidenhead it 
proceeds nearly in a direct line through 
Twyford to Reading; thence in a direc¬ 
tion W.N.W., to Basilden, where it 
crosses the Thames into Oxfordshire; 
it again enters Berkshire north of 
Moulsford, passes between North and 
South More ton, past Dudcot on the 
north, and proceeds through Steventon, 
afterwards crossing the Berks and Wilts 
canal about two miles north of Wan¬ 
tage, again crosses the same canal on 
the verge of the county, and enters 
Wiltshire between Highworth and 
Swindon, about 76 miles from London. 
The length of the Great Western line 
of railway which passes through Berk¬ 
shire is about 50 miles. The summit 
level is at Swindon, which is 253 feet 
higher than the depot at Paddington, 
and 275 feet higher than the terminus 
at Bristol. From London the road rises 
gradually to Maidenhead, Reading, and 
Dudcot, by easy ascents, nowhere ex¬ 
ceeding four feet per mile, or one in 
^ 320. The expense of the Act of In¬ 


corporation, which was obtained in 
August, 1835, amounted to the enor¬ 
mous sum of 88,710/. For the comple¬ 
tion of the necessary works the com¬ 
pany was authorised to raise two and 
a half millions in 100/. shares, and 
further to borrow on mortgage any sum 
not exceeding one-third of this amount; 
but the original estimate has been 
already exceeded by a sum exceeding 
2,000,000/. The works were commenced 
in February, 1836. On the 4th of 
June, 1838, the railway was opened from 
London to Maidenhead; on the 1st of 
July, 1839, a further portion of the line 
wasopened to Twyford; in March, 1840, 
the line was opened to Reading, 35J 
miles from London ; in June as far 
as Steventon; and on the 20th of 
July as far as the Faringdon Road. 
The number of passengers conveyed 
is considered highly satisfactory by the 
company. There are now 17 trains 
daily each way, except Sunday. The 
earliest train for passengers from 
London being 8 a.m., and the latest 
5 minutes before 9 p.m. A higher velo¬ 
city may he maintained on this rail¬ 
road with' safety than perhaps on any 
other, owing to the width between the 
rails, which is 7 feet instead of 4 feet 8 
inches as on some other lines. The 
body of the carriage may consequently 
be safely placed between the wheels 
instead of above them, and wheels of 
much larger diameter can be used. 
At present (July 1840) no period has 
been fixed upon for opening the whole 
line. The distances on the line are 
as follow, beginning at Paddington :— 



30 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


Distance from 


Stations. 

To Ealing ... 


Miles. 

6 

Loudon. 

6 

,, Hanwell . 

# 

1 

7 

„ Southall . 


2 

9 

., West Drayton 


4 

13 

,, Slough . . • 


5 

18 

„ Maidenhead . 


4 

22 

„ Twyford 

• 

9 

31 

„ Reading 

• 

4* 

354 

,, Pangbourn . 


54 

41 

,, Goring . 

# 

3 

44 

„ Moulsford . . 


3^ 

474 

,, Steventon . 


§4 

56 "* 

,, Faringdon Road 

• 


634 


RIVERS. 

The navigation of the Thames, though 
much improved within the last 45 
years, is still tedious and uncertain, 
especially for large boats. Iron steam¬ 
boats have recently been introduced. 
The tide channel may be said to extend 
as far as Teddington (Tidengtoun) Lock, 
18i miles from London by the river, or 
11 4 miles direct distance; and above this 
part of the river there is not unfre¬ 
quently a scarcity of water. A series 
of locks obviates this defect in some 
measure, and the navigation is also 
facilitated by short cuttings, for the 
purpose of avoiding shallows or exten¬ 
sive bends. The navigation commences 
soon after the river touches the border 
of Berkshire, viz., at St. John’s Bridge, 
near Lechlade, where it is 258 feet 
above low-water mark at London; from 
Lechlade to Reading it has a fall of 
123 feet, and from Reading to London 
the fall is 135 feet. Before the opening 
of the Thames and Severn canal in 
1789 the Thames was navigated between 
Cricklade and Lechlade, a distance 


of 9 or 10 miles; but this part of the 
river is now disused. In Priestley’s 
work on canals, the distances on the 
Thames by the course of the river are 
given as follow, beginning at Lech¬ 
lade : — 

To Oxford . 

,, Abingdon 
„ Wallingford 
„ Reading . 

„ Henley . . 

„ Marlow . 

Maidenhead 
„ Windsor . 

According to Priestley, the navigation 
between Lechlade and London is 146 
miles. The total distance from West 
Crudwell,* one of the principal sources 
of the Thames, 3f N. by E. of Malmes¬ 
bury to Sheerness, is 204£ miles: the 
tide channel from the Nore to Tedding¬ 
ton Lock is about 60 miles.t 

The Kennet is made navigable from 
Newbury to the Thames, a distance by 
the stream of about twenty miles. In 
the course of this navigation there are 
21 locks; the highest point is 264 feet 
above the level of the sea at low water; 
the fall from thence to Reading is 
about 134 feet. 



canals. 


Besides the navigation of the Thames 
and the Kennet, Berkshire has two 
canals, viz., the Wilts and Berks Canal, 
and the Kennet and Avon Canal. The* 
former, projected in 1801, commences 
in the river Thames just below Abing- 


frmn n ■ 1 iTTi , , Ur , lcklade is 10* miles; an 
fiom Cneklade to Lechlade 9£ miles, 

fnl V Geo f ™phy of Great Britain/ Library of Us< 
ful Knowledge, pp. 48,49. J 











GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 


31 


don, and is carried through the Vale of 
White Horse past Wantage into Wilt¬ 
shire : crossing this county near Swin¬ 
don, Wootton Bassett, Caine, Chippen¬ 
ham, and Melksham, it joins the Ken- 
net and Avon Canal not far from the 
last-mentioned town: it is 52 miles in 
length, 27^ feet in breadth at the sur¬ 
face, 14 feet at the bottom, and 4^ feet 
deep. The height of the Thames at the 
commencement of this canal is 180 feet 
above the sea at low water, and the 
canal rises in its course through this 
county till it enters Wiltshire, where it 
attains its summit level of 345 feet: the 
number of locks is about 40. It sup¬ 
plies with fuel the district through which 
it passes, and enables the agriculturalist 
to send his corn and other produce to 
market. 

The Kennet and Avon Canal com¬ 
mences at Newbury, forming a con¬ 
tinuation of the River Kennet naviga¬ 
tion, and passes up the Vale of Kennet, 
by Hungerford and Great Bedvvin, to 
Crofton in Wilts, near which its summit 
level begins. From this level it con¬ 
tinues its course by Devizes, Seming- 
ton (a village at which it is joined by 
the Wilts and Berks Canal), Trow¬ 
bridge, and Bradford to Bath. The 
elevation of the highest point of the 
Kennet navigation is 264 feet, and the 
summit level of the Kennet and Avon 
Canal, at Crofton Tunnel, is 210 feet 
more: at Reading the elevation is only 
about 135 feet above low-water mark 
at London Bridge. There are above 40 
locks in this canal. A little way above 
Hungerford the canal is carried over the 


Kennet by an aqueduct of three arches. 
This canal is 45 feet in breadth at its 
surface, and from five to six feet deep. 
It was projected in 1796, and finished 
in 1810. 

POST TOWNS. 

The following are the towns in Berk¬ 
shire for which bags are made up at the 
General Post-Office in London, with the 
number of letters and newspapers posted 
in one week, previous to the commence¬ 
ment of the penny postage. 


Abingdon . 
Faringuon 

Letters. 

. 761 

. 395 

Newspapers. 

54 

Hungerford . 

. 452 

68 

Maidenhead . 

. 1060 

134 

Newbury • 

. 1377 

248 

Reading- 

. 2820 

1213 

Wantage . 

. 320 

45 

Windsor . 

. 2806 

714 

Wokingham . 

. 211 

51 


MARKETS AND FAIRS. 

The markets of Newbury and Read¬ 
ing not only supply the less fertile dis¬ 
tricts and the dairy counties with corn, 
but likewise give employment to nume¬ 
rous mills, whence the grain in the 
shape of Hour is sent in considerable 
quantities to the London market. 

There are numerous fairs in the 
county, some of which are very ancient, 
and others of later institution. The 
fairs at Reading are noted, especially 
that for horses on the 25th of July, and 
for cheese on the 21st of September. 
Ilsley sheep fairs are some of the largest 
after the great fairs on the Wiltshire 
Downs : one is held on the 26th March ; 
but the largest, called Lamb Fair, is on 






32 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


the 26th of August. On the market 
days, which are on Wednesdays, a sheep 
fair is held every fortnight, from Easter 
till shearing time, where large quantities 
of sheep are penned. There are fairs 
also at Abingdon, Newbury, and all the 
principal towns and villages, as the 
following list will show :— 

Abingdon, first Monday in Lent, 
May 6, June 20, August 5, September 
19, Monday before old Michaelmas, 
December 11; Arborfield, October 5 ; 
Alaermaston, May 6, July 7, October 
11; Bracknell, April 25, August 22, 
October 1 ; East Ilsley, March 26, 
Wednesday in Easter week, and every 
other Wednesday till Whit Wednesday, 
August 26, first Wednesday after Sep¬ 
tember 29, Wednesday after October 


17, November 12 ; Farringdon, February 
15, Whit Tuesday, October 29; Hun- 
gerford, last Wednesday in April, Au¬ 
gust 10; Lambourn, May ] 2, October 
2, December 4 ; Mortimer, April 27, 
Nov. 6; Maidenhead, Whit Wednes¬ 
day, September 29, November 30; 
Newbury, Holy Thursday, July 5, Sep¬ 
tember 4, October 14, November 8; 
Oakinghara, April 23, June 11, October 
10, November 2; Reading, February 
2, May 1, July 25, September 21 ; 
Thatcham, second Tuesday after Easter 
Week, first Tuesday after September 
29; Wallingford, June 24, September 
29, December 17; Wantage, first Sa¬ 
turday in March and May, July 18, 
October 10 and 17; Windsor, Easter 
Tuesday, July 5, October 24. 




33 


CHAPTER II. 

WINDSOR. 


The traveller from Loudon to Windsor 
will scarcely adopt any other mode of 
conveyance than the expeditious one of 
the railway, unless he determines to 
journey in his own carriage by the 
turnpike road, or prefers a pedestrian 
excursion. In either case the flat mo¬ 
notonous highway and the dingy towns 
of Brentford, Hounslow and Colnbrook, 
between Hyde Park Corner and Slough, 
will afford him but little gratification. In¬ 
stead of this laborious mode of enjoying 
a day’s excursion, we will at once assume 
that the railway is preferred. There are 
omnibuses start from the city-office of 
the Railway Company, situated near 
the Bank, one hour before the departure 
of each train ; and also from several of 
the principal coach-offices. The fare to 
the Paddington station is only sixpence; 
and by these conveyances there is the 
certainty of reaching it in time, although 
it is always advisable to apply for tickets 
immediately on entering the office, as 
there is frequently an infiux of pas¬ 
sengers at the last moment, and the 
clerks find it difficult to perform their 
duties so as to secure the punctuality 
which is maintained on this as on other 


railways. On this railway the carriages 
are divided into the first and the second 
class. When the traveller has obtained 
his ticket, he is conducted from the 
office to the spot from whence the car¬ 
riages start, and the ringing of a bell 
announces that the doors are closed, 
and those who are not in time must be 
content to remain until the despatch of 
the next train : a preliminary or warn¬ 
ing bell has rung five minutes before. 
The officers of the Railway Company 
pay great attention to passengers, direct¬ 
ing them to the carriages which are ap¬ 
propriated to individuals going to par¬ 
ticular stations. The doors of each 
carriage are now locked, and the engine, 
which has been attached to the train in 
the mean time, is heard breathing and 
panting like a thing of life. A loud 
shrill whistle made by the engine is the 
signal of departure. After a few hun¬ 
dred yards the speed increases, producing, 
in most cases, a feeling of pleasure and 
excitement by the magnificent triumph 
of science which conveys the traveller 
through scenes of rural solitude with a 
rapidity that renders the air of the stillest 
and most sultry day a healthful and plea- 

D 




34 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE 


sant breeze. Some of the'trains run to 
Slough without stopping; others deposit 
and receive passengers at every station. 
The Ealing, Hanwell, Southall, and 
West Drayton stations occur before that 
of Slough. The trains k which stop at 
these smaller stations are termed mixed 
trains. Every train without exception, 
both up and down the line, stops^at the 
Slough station, which ’ is reached in 
about forty minutes after leaving Pad¬ 
dington. A handsome range of build¬ 
ings is now erecting at this point, which 
is the nearest to Windsor. At Slough 
there are omnibuses in waiting which 
convey the passengers by the different 
trains to Eton and Windsor: the fare 
js sixpence. 


From Slough to Eton College is little 
more than a mile, Slough is distin¬ 
guished by the circumstance of having 
been the residence of the great astrono¬ 
mer, Sir William Herschell, and here he 
made some of his most remarkable 
observations on the heavens. Before 
entering the College we pass the beauti¬ 
ful playing-fields of the Etonians. The 
buildings of this institution,—the 

•-“ antique towers. 

That crown the watery glade,” 

show best from a distance, where they 
are setoff by the natural beauties of their 
situation. The back of the College, look¬ 
ing from the Thames, forms a landscape 
of great beauty, which has often been 
painted by our most celebrated artists 



[ Eton College from the Thames.] 















WINDSOR. 


' 35 


—The entire College is a conspicuous 
and ornamental object in the splendid 
view from the terrace of Windsor Castle. 
It consists of two quadrangles, built 
partly of freestone, but chiefly of brick, 
in a style somewhat resembling that of 
the north front of St. James’s Palace. 
In the one quadrangle are the school 
and the chapel, with the lodgings for 
the scholars; the other contains the 
library, the provost’s house, and the 
apartments of the fellows. The chapel, 
which is built of stone, is the part in 
which the architecture is most ambi¬ 
tious ; it is externally a handsome struc¬ 
ture, though very plain in the interior. 
It is one hundred and seventy-five feet 
in length, including an ante-chapel 
which is sixty-two feet long. In the 
centre of the first-mentioned quadrangle 
stands a bronze statue of Henry VI. 
which was erected in the early part of 
the last century by Dr. Godolphin, the 
provost of the college. There is another 
statue of the same king in the chapel, 
the work of the late John Bacon. 

Eton College was founded by Henry 
VI. The foundation charter is dated 
at Windsor, on the twelfth of Septem¬ 
ber, in the nineteenth year of his reign, 
that is, in the year 1440. The original 
establishment was a provost, ten priests, 
four clerks, six choristers, twenty-five 
poor grammar scholars, and the like 
number of poor men. It now consists 
of a provost, six other fellows, two 
schoolmasters, two conducts, seven 
clerks, seventy king’s scholars, ten 
choristers, and a number of inferior 
officers and servants. Besides the scho¬ 


lars on the foundation, the school is 
always attended by a much larger num¬ 
ber of others, called oppidans. The 
total number of scholars is now about 
six hundred. 

From the seventy king’s scholars a 
certain number are annually selected 
and put on a roll for admission to King’s 
College, Cambridge. The election is 
made, after examination of the upper 
class, by the provost and two fellows of 
King’s College, assisted by the provost, 
vice-provost, and head master of Eton. 
The successful candidates, however, are 
not immediately transferred to Cam¬ 
bridge, but remain at school until 
vacancies occur on the foundation of 
King’s College. The" supply is pre¬ 
vented from outrunning the demand by 
the regulation that at the age of nine¬ 
teen an Etonian is superannuated, as it 
is called, or is not allowed to remain 
longer at school. On their removal to 
Cambridge the Eton scholars are 
received on the foundation of the 
college and maintained from its funds ; 
and after three years they succeed to 
fellowships. 

Mr. Britton, in the second volume of 
his ‘ Architectural Antiquities of Great 
Britain,’ has printed, from manuscripts 
in the British Museum, some accounts 
of the expenditure on the building of 
Eton College, which curiously illustrate 
wages and prices in former times. The 
work appears to have been commenced 
in the beginning of July, 1441. The 
first week there were employed seven¬ 
teen carpenters, seven stone-masons, 
fifteen sawyers, and thirty-one common 




36 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE 


abourers. In the second week two 
more masons and twenty-five more 
labourers were added. By December 
we find thirty-five free masons and two 
row masons employed. The wages of 
masons and carpenters were sixpence a- 


day, and those of labourers twopence. 
Many days were lost, however, both to 
the men and to the progress of the 
work, as being holydays of the church. 
The first year the entire expenditure 
was usually from 6l. to 9/. per week. 



[Quadrangle of Eton College.] 







































































WINDSOR. 


37 


The second year there was paid for 
labour alone 712/. 195. Id, and for 
materials 1447/. 4s. That year 457 
tons of stone were imported from Caen, 
in Normandy, which appear to have 
been paid for at the rate of 5s. 8d. per 
ton at the quarry, 45. more for carriage 
to London, and 15. 4d. more for carriage 
to Eton: the total cost, therefore, was 
115. per ton. Most of our old build¬ 
ings, we may remark, from the Conquest 
down to the end of the fifteenth century, 
were constructed of stone from Caen. 
The portion of Eton College which is 
of brick was not begun till 1443. That 
year 100,000 bricks were used, which 
cost lOd the thousand. In five years 
there were consumed 1,637,750 bricks. 
The brick-kiln was near Slough, in a 
field now the property of the College, 
but which was then rented at twenty 
shillings per annum. The building 
suffered considerable interruptions be¬ 
fore it was completed; and the great 
tower gateway, indeed, called Lupton’s 
Tower, which was the last part erected, 
was not finished till the year 1523, in 
the reign of Henry VIII. 

The town of Eton principally consists 
of one long street, offering nothing re¬ 
markable to the curiosity of the 
stranger. Windsor and Eton, though 
situated on opposite sides of the Thames, 
and in different counties (Eton being in 
Buckinghamshire), form in appearance 
only one town. The bridge over the 
river is the only interruption to the line 
of houses. This bridge, which is of 
iron, was built in 1823-4. It is a neat 
structure, of which the engineer was 


Mr. Hollis, from whose designs the 
parish church was also built. 

The town of Windsor has not much 
to recommend it to the attention of the 
visitors, the houses having neither the 
historical interest which belongs to an¬ 
cient buildings, nor the elegance of 
modern erections. Windsor is a clean, 
neat country town, with good shops. 
Independent of the Castle, and of the 
beautiful scenery by which it is sur¬ 
rounded, what is worthy of note in it 
may be briefly described. 

Windsor is a parliamentary and 
municipal borough, returning two mem¬ 
bers, and in 1831 had a population of 
5650. The municipal and parlia¬ 
mentary boundaries are identical, com¬ 
prising the whole of the parish of New 
Windsor (with the exception of the 
hamlet of Dedwortli) and a portion of 
the parish of Clewer, in which the town 
of Windsor has extended. Since the 
passing of the Reform Act an extra- 
parochial division, called the Lower Ward 
of the Castle,—which contains the 
residences of the provost and fellows 
of St. George’s Chapel, the military 
knights, &c.,—has been included within 
the borough. Old Windsor is a parish 
quite distinct from New Windsor. The 
Saxon kings had a palace at Old 
Windsor, and Edward the Confessor 
occasionally kept his court there; but on 
Windsor Castle becoming the favourite 
residence of the kings of England, the 
new town rose into importance, and 
from having been a chapelry in the 
parish of Clewer and a part of Clewer 
manor, it was constituted a separate 




38 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


parish. The Saxon name of Old 
Windsor was Windles-ofra or Windle- 
shora, so called, according to the 
statements of our old topographical 
writers, from the winding course of the 
river Thames. 

Edward I. made New Windsor a free 
borough, and Edward IV. granted the 
burgesses a charter of incorporation. 
Edward I. was so desirous of benefiting 
the place that he made it the assize 
town for the county, though its situation 
was extremely inconvenient. The 
county gaol was removed from Wal¬ 
lingford to Windsor ; but in consequence 
of a petition in 1349, it was transferred 
to Reading, though the king at first 
refused to make the alteration, alleging 
in the words of the record, “ Le roi ne 
veut pas avoir sa gaole en altre chatel 
qu en la seon.” At this period the 
sovereign exercised his direct influence 
in judicial proceedings. With the 
exception of nearly a century, during 
which the indulgence of the crown pro¬ 
bably allowed the electors to omit 
making returns, the privilege of return¬ 
ing two members to parliament has 
been exercised since the reign of Ed¬ 
ward I. The right of voting which had 
been exclusively enjoyed by the corpo¬ 
ration, was, in 1690, extended to the 
inhabitants paying scot and lot. In 
1835, when the Commissioners of Cor¬ 
poration Inquiry visited the borough, 
the income of the corporation amounted 
to about 650Z. per annum. The town 
is now divided into two wards, returning 
six aldermen and eighteen counsellors. 
The borough has its own quarter-ses¬ 


sions of the peace, and a court for the 
recovery of small debts. 

Windsor is pleasantly situated on 
rising ground, and consists of six prin¬ 
cipal streets, well paved and lighted, 
besides smaller streets, some of which 
have rather a mean appearance. The 
old church was pulled down in 1818, 
and the present edifice, in the later 
pointed style, was opened in 1822. The 
Independents and Wesleyan Method¬ 
ists have places of worship. The 
Guildhall or Town-house was built in 
1686, and contains portraits of the 
sovereigns of England from King 
Charles I., besides a few other portraits. 
There are statues of Queen Anne and 
her consort Prince George of Denmark 
in niches, one at each end of the build¬ 
ing. The other buildings of a public 
character are the Free School, erected 
in 1706, a gaol, a theatre, and barracks 
for cavalry and infantry. There are 
endowments appropriated to the pur¬ 
poses of education, and several alms¬ 
houses and modern charitable and 
literary institutions, and a weekly 
newspaper is printed in the town. 

Windsor is not situated upon any 
great thoroughfare; it has no manufac¬ 
tures ; and no trade beyond that which 
the demand of an opulent neighbour¬ 
hood creates. There is a market held 
every Saturday, and annual fairs at 
Easter, and in July and October. 

THE CASTLE. 

On a hill which is somewhat precipitous 
to the north, but is of gentle ascent in 
other directions, stands the Castle of 





WINDSOR. 


39 



[North-west View of Windsor Castle, from the Thames] 


Windsor. “ It enjoyeth,” says our old 
English topographer Camden, “ a most 
delightful prospect round about; for 
right in the front it overlooketh a vale, 
lying out far and wide, garnished with 
corn-fields, flourishing with meadows, 
decked with groves on either side, and 
watered with the most mild and calm 
river Thames: behind it arise hills 
everywhere, neither rough nor over-high, 
attired as it were with woods, and even 
dedicated as it were by nature to hunting 
and r game.” The magnificent castle 
which crowns this eminence is associated 
with some of the most interesting events 
and persons in the history of our coun¬ 
try. It has witnessed all the pomp of 
chivalry, and its courts have rung with 
the feasts and tournaments of the 
Edwards and Henrys. Kings were 
born here,—and here they are buried ; 
and after every change of fashion and 


opinions, it is still the proudest resi¬ 
dence of the sovereign of England, as 
it was seven centuries ago. The parlia¬ 
ment, within these few years, has 
thought fit to bestow very large sums 
upon the complete repair of this castle; 
and we cannot think the amount ill 
bestowed, for the ancient recollections 
of a people are amongst its best posses¬ 
sions. 

There is scarcely a point within a few 
miles distance where the Castle of 
Windsor is not seen to great advantage. 
To the traveller upon the Bath road and 
on the railway it presents its bold 
northern front, which comprises the 
longest continuous range of its build¬ 
ings. On the road to Windsor, by 
Datchet, the eastern front, with its four 
grand towers, appears of itself to exceed 
most other edifices in magnitude. To 
the great Park the southern front is 





[The Castle—llound Tower, and South Front.] 











































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































WINDSOR. 


41 


displayed ; and when this part is viewed 
from the extremity of the fine avenue 
called the Long Walk, nothing can 
appear more stately. In every situation 
the Round Tower rises above the other 
buildings, and arrests the eye by its 
surpassing dimensions. Burke has 
well characterised it as “ the proud keep 
of Windsor.” Sir John Denham, in his 
poem of Cooper’s Hill (an eminence 
overlooking Runnemede), describes the 
majestic appearance of Windsor in the 
quaint and exaggerated tone of the 
poetry of his day:— 

i( Such seems thy gentle height, made only 
proud 

To be the basis of that pompous load, 

Than which a nobler weight no mountain 
bears, 

But Atlas only which supports the spheres.” 

The visitor to Windsor, upon turning 
up the street (Castle Street) which leads 
to the Castle, will have the south front 
presented to him as it is represented in 
the wood-cut. The improvements that 
have been made in this part within the 
last few years are most striking. The 
road now leads boldly up to the Castle; 
and the observer looks without inter¬ 
ruption upon the rich woods of the ad¬ 
jacent parks. A very short time ago a 
number of contemptible buildings were 
scattered about the Castle ; and even 
the superb avenue, the Long Walk, was 
deprived of its natural object—(the ob¬ 
ject doubtless for which it was planted) 
—that of forming a road to the principal 
entrance to thle Castle, by the avenue 
and the entrance being crossed by a 
large plastered house and offices called 


the Queen’s Lodge. All these excres¬ 
cences have been judiciously removed. 

The southern entrances to the Castle 
are reserved for private use, with the 
exception of a little postern gate, which, 
leads round the base of the Round 
Tower to the west of the Great Quad¬ 
rangle. The common approach is 
through what is called the Lower Ward, 
entered by a noble gateway, with two 
towers, built by Henry VIII. The first 
object which arrests attention is the 
Chapel of St. George—a building unri¬ 
valled in England or in Europe, as a per¬ 
fect specimen of that richly ornamented 
Gothic architecture which prevailed in 
the latter end of the fifteenth century 
and the beginning of the sixteenth. 
Immediately to the east of this fine 
chapel is an ecclesiastical building of 
later erection, called Wolsey's Tomb- 
house ; which is now used as the dor¬ 
mitory of the Royal Family. The 
buildings opposite St. George’s Chapel 
are the residences of the Military 
Knights of Windsor. The bold tower 
which terminates this row of buildings, 
as well as the opposite tower called the 
Winchester, (from its being the resi¬ 
dence of William of Wykeham, Bishop 
of Winchester, the architect of the 
Castle,) are the best preserved, without 
much change, of the more ancient parts 
of the whole fabric. On the right as 
he proceeds, the visitor looks down over 
a low battlemented wall, upon what was 
once the moat of the Round Tower. It 
appears to have been in part a garden 
as long since as the time of James I. of 
Scotland, who was detained here for 




TThe Castle,— Great Ouadranalf* 




























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































WINDSOR. 


43 


some time, and has celebrated this 
solace of his imprisonment in one of his 
poems. The tower itself rises in stern 
grandeur out of this depth. The mound 
upon which it is built is no doubt artifi¬ 
cial. This immense tower has been 
considerably elevated within a few years, 
in common with many other parts of 
the Castle. 

Proceeding through a gateway of two 
towers, whose low portal indicates its 
antiquity and its employment for de¬ 
fence, the visitor finds himself within 
the magnificent quadrangle of the 
palace. On the north are the state 
apartments, in which is included the 
celebrated Hall of St. George on the 
east and south the private apartments 
of the Queen and her Court. The state 
apartments are exhibited to strangers, 
as we shall more particularly mention. 
Nothing can be more imposing than the 
general effect of this quadrangle. Every 
part is now of a uniform character. We 
look in vain for the narrow grated win¬ 
dows and pierced battlements of the 
times of feudal strife, when convenience 
was sacrificed to security. These cha¬ 
racteristics of a martial age were swept 
away by Charles II., who substituted 
the architectural style of the age of 
Louis XIV., than which nothing could 
have been in worse taste. In the recent 
alterations of the Castle, the architect 
has most judiciously preserved the best 
characteristics of old English domestic 
architecture. The wood-cut may give 
some notion of the richness and grandeur 
of this quadrangle. 

Returning a short distance, the en¬ 


trance to the terrace presents itself to 
the visitor. After descending a flight 
of steps, the scene is totally changed. 
A prospect, unrivalled in extent and 
beauty, bursts upon the sight. Few 
persons can look upon this scene with¬ 
out emotion. The eye delightedly 
wanders over the various features of 
this remarkable landscape. It traces 
the Thames gliding tranquilly and 
brilliantly along, through green and 
shadowy banks—sometimes presenting 
a broad surface, and sometimes escaping 
from observation in its sudden and ca¬ 
pricious windings;—it ranges as far as 
the distant hills—it counts the nume¬ 
rous turrets and spires of the neigh¬ 
bouring villages—or it reposes upon the 
antique grandeur of Eton College. 
Gray has beautifully described this 
magnificent prospect in well-known 
lines:— 

- “ From the stately brow 

Of Windsor’s heights th’ expanse below 

Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey, 

Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers 
among 

Wanders the hoary Thames along 

His silver winding way.” 

The north side of the terrace is con¬ 
stantly open to the public; and this is 
by far the finest part. .To the eastern 
side admittance is only granted on 
Saturdays and Sundays. At the north¬ 
east angle of the terrace the northern 
front of the Castle is exhibited as shown 
in the wood-cut in the next page. 

The earliest history of Windsor 
Castle, like that of many other ancient 
buildings, is involved in some obscurity. 






[The Castle,—North Front and Terrace ] 
























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































WINDSOR. 


45 


It is doubtful whether in the time of 
William the Conqueror, and of his son 
Rufus, it was used as a residence ; but it 
was certainly then a military post. At 
Old Windsor, a village about a mile and 
a half from the present castle, there was 
a Saxon palace, which was occasionally 
inhabited by the kings of England. 
Henry I. held his court there in 1105 
and 1107; but having enlarged the 
adjacent castle with “ many fair build¬ 
ings,” he, according to the Saxon 
Chronicle, kept the festival of Whit¬ 
suntide there in 1110. In the time of 
Stephen, the Castle, according to 
Holingshed’s Chronicle, was esteemed 
the second fortress in the kingdom. 
Henry II. and his son held two parlia¬ 
ments there. Upon the news of his 
brother Richard’s imprisonment in the 
Holy Land, John took possession of 
the Castle; and after his accession to 
the throne remained there, as a place 
of security, during his contests with the 
barons. Holingshed says, that the 
barons, having refused to obey the sum¬ 
mons of the King to attend him in his 
own castle, he gave them the meeting 
at Runnemede, which ended in the 
signature of Magna Charta. The 
fortress sustained several changes of 
masters during the wars between the 
Crown and the Nobility, which broke 
out again in the reign of John, and of 
Henry III. Windsor Castle was the 
favourite place of residence of Edward I. 
and II.; and here Edward III. was 
born. During the long reign of this 
monarch, the Castle, according to its * 
present magnificent plan, was com¬ 


menced, and in great part completed. 
The history of the building furnishes, 
in many respects, a curious picture 
of the manners of the feudal ages. 

At a period when no man’s posses¬ 
sions were thoroughly assured to him 
by equal laws,—when the internal peace 
of kingdoms was distracted by the pre¬ 
tensions of rival claimants to sovereignty, 
—and when foreign wars were under¬ 
taken, not for the assertion of national 
honour or the preservation of national 
safety, but at the arbitrary will of each 
warlike holder of a throne, personal 
valour was considered the highest 
merit; and the great were esteemed, 
not for their intellectual acquirements 
and their moral virtues, but for their 
gallantry in the tournament and their 
ferocity in the battle-field. Amongst 
the legends of the old chroniclers and 
romance-writers (and there was origi¬ 
nally small difference in the two charac¬ 
ters), the most favourite was the story 
of King Arthur and his Knights of the 
Round Table. Froissart, the most 
amusing of chroniclers, says, that 
Windsor was the seat of the solemnities 
of the Round Table, in the sixth cen¬ 
tury : and later historians affirm that 
Edward III. in a solemn joust held at 
Windsor in the eighteenth year of his 
reign, revived the institution. Wal- 
singham, the historian, states, that 
upon this occasion Edward built a 
round chamber, two hundred feet in 
diameter, for the deliberations and fes¬ 
tivals of the companions in arms that 
he gathered about him. This strange 
house was itself called the Round 




46 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


Table. It is probable that it was a tem¬ 
porary structure ; for, within a short 
time after, various commissions for 
appointing surveyors and impressing 
workmen were issued; and in 1356, 
William of Wykeham, then one of the 
king’s chaplains, was appointed archi¬ 
tect of the various buildings which 
Edward’s taste for magnificent display 
had projected. In one year three hun¬ 
dred and sixty workmen were impressed 
to be employed at the king’s wages. 
Some of them having secretly left 
Windsor to engage in other employ¬ 
ments for greater wages, writs were 
issued for their committal to prison, and 
to prohibit all persons from engaging 
them under severe penalties. Such 
were the modes in which the freedom 
of industry was violated, before the 
principles of commercial intercourse 
were fairly established. 

Impressments of various artificers ap¬ 
pear to have gone on for the same object, 
till the year 1373 ; after which there 
are no records of more commissions 
being issued. It is probable, therefore, 
that this immense work was completed, 
as far as Edward III. had contemplated, 
in about seventeen years from its com¬ 
mencement. Before it had been begun, 
Edward had founded the Order of the 
Garter ; and during its progress, and 
after its completion, the festivals of this 
institution were celebrated at Windsor 
with every pomp of regal state. Knights- 
strangers were several times invited 
from all parts of the world, with letters 
of safe-conduct to pass and repass the 
realm; and one of these festivals is par 


ticularly described by the chroniclers as 
exceeding all others in splendour, which 
was given in honour of John, King of 
France, who was then a prisoner at 
Windsor. John, who appears to have 
been a shrewd observer, is recorded to 
have said, that he never knew such 
royal shows and feastings, without some 
after-reckoning for gold and silver. 

With the exception of occasional high 
pageantries on the festival of St. George, 
Windsor Castle does not appear to have 
been the scene of many public solemni¬ 
ties after the reign of its chivalrous 
founder. Richard II., however, heard 
here the appeal of high treason brought 
by the Duke of Lancaster against the 
Duke of Norfolk. But it was often the 
favourite country residence of our 
kings; several of whom, particularly 
Heniy VII., continued to make various 
additions and improvements. There is 
a curious poem by the Earl of Surrey, 
who was confined in the Castle for 
violating the canons of the church, by- 
eating flesh in Lent, which presents the 
best picture we have of the kind of life 
which the accomplished gallants of the 
English courtledin our country palaces, 
at a period when refinement had not 
taken away the relish for simple plea¬ 
sures. He describes 

“ The lai 'g e green courts where we were wont 
to hove * 

With eyes cast up into the maiden's tower;” 

and be goes on to contrast his painful 
imprisonment with his former happiness 
•amongst “ the stately seals,” “ the ladies 


# Loiter. 







WINDSOR 


47 


bright,” “ the dances short,” “ the palm- 
play,”* “ the gravel-ground,”f “ the 
secret groves,” and “ the wild forest,” 

“ With cry of hounds, and merry blasts 
between, 

Where we did chase the fearful hart of 
force.” 

The age of Elizabeth brought with it 


a love of letters ; and here “ the maiden 
queen” occasionally retired from the 
| cares of state, to dictate ’ verses to her 
private secretary, or receive the flatteries 
of the accomplished Leicester. There 
is in the State Paper Office an original 
manuscript translation of Horace's Art 
of Poetry, composed by Elizabeth under 



[Part of Windsor Castle,—built in the time of Elizabeth.] 


such circumstances. This queen built 
the north terrace, and a gallery still 
called after her name, and retaining the 
peculiar style of the architecture of her 
day. We give a view of it as it appeared 

* Fives. f For tournaments. 


before the recent improvements, in 
which, however, the characteristic fea¬ 
tures of the architecture have been 
little changed. 

Windsor Castle was garrisoned by 
the parliament during the great civil 
































48 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


war of Charles I.; and it was the last 
prison of that unfortunate monarch. 
Upon the restoration, Charles II. be¬ 
stowed upon the Castle the doubtful 
honour of repairing it according to his 
foreign taste. We have no accurate 
records of what he destroyed; but the 
probability is, that in remodelling the 
interior he swept away some of the 
most valuable memorials that existed 
of the style of living amongst his pre¬ 
decessors. St. George’s Hall was 
covered with paintings by Verrio, as 
were the ceilings of all the other state 
apartments; and truly nothing can be 
more disgusting than the nauseous 
flattery and bad taste of these produc¬ 
tions. Most of the miserable improve¬ 
ments, as they were called, of this 
king, have been swept away from the 
exterior of the Castle; and, in many 
particulars, from the interior. St. 
George’s Hall is once more a Gothic 
room, such as the “ invincible knights of 
old” might have feasted in. Charles II., 
however, carried the terrace round the 
east and south fronts. 

Queen Anne frequently resided at 
Windsor. In the reigns of the first 
and second Georges it was neglected. 
George III. dwelt for many years in a 
white-washed house at the foot of his 
own palace; till at length he determined 
to occupy the old Castle. The apart¬ 
ments were little adapted to the notions 
of modern comfort, but the Royal 
Family continued to reside here till the 
death of the King. George IV. inha¬ 
bited the Castle as it was, for a few 


months in 1823 ; but in 1824, its general 
decay and want of accommodation were 
brought under the notice of parliament. 
Commissioners were appointed for super¬ 
intending the alterations, and a large 
sum was voted for the first outlay. Mr. 
Wyatville (the late Sir Jeffery) was ap¬ 
pointed the architect; and from that 
time the works were carried on with 
unremitting diligence. 

THE INTERIOR. 

The apartments of the Queen and her 
Court are as numerous as they are 
splendid. Round the east and south 
sides of the quadrangle runs a corridor, 
forming a magnificent gallery above, 
and connecting the various parts of the 
immense range of offices below. The 
principal floor of this corridor is superbly 
furnished with pictures and statues. 
The chief apartments of the Queen are 
in the south-eastern tower, and the 
eastern front. The dining, drawing, 
and music rooms are of extraordinary 
dimensions, forming that fine suite 
whose grand oriel windows look out 
upon the eastern terrace. They are 
connected, at the north-eastern angle, 
with the state apartments, some of 
which, particularly St. George’s Hall, 
are used on occasions of high festival. 

The state apartments are exhibited 
daily to the public. Several of them 
have been completely remodelled under 
the parliamentary commission for the 
repairs of the Castle. The guard-room 
is now fitted up with great appropriate¬ 
ness : one of the most remarkable 





K 


























































































































































































































































































































































50 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


objects is a bust of Lord Nelson, having 
for its pedestal a portion of the main¬ 
mast of the Victory, his own ship, on 
the deck of which he gloriously fell. 
St. George’s Hall, as we mentioned 
before, has been entirely purified from 
the productions of the false taste of 
the time of Charles II. An adjoining 
chapel has been added to the original 
hall; so that it is now an oblong room 
of vast length, with a range of tall 
pointed-arch windows looking upon the 
square. Its walls, panelled with dark 
oak, are hung with the portraits of suc¬ 
cessive sovereigns of the Order of the 
Garter; and heraldic insignia of the 
ancient knights are borne on shields 
which surround the splendid room. Of 
the other new state apartments, the 
principal are the ball-room, glittering 
with burnished gold ; and the Waterloo 
gallery, in which are hung the fine 
series of portraits of the princes, warriors, 
and statesmen, who were instrumental 
in forwarding that great victory. 

The remaining state apartments pre¬ 
sent an assemblage of such objects as 
are usually shown in our palaces and 
noble mansions. Here are the gaudy 
ceilings of Verrio, where Charles II. 
and his Queen are humbly waited upon 
by Jupiter and Neptune; and the 
profligate who sold his country to 
Louis XIV. for a paltry bribe, and 
degraded the English court by every 
vice, is represented as the pacificator 
of Europe and the restorer of religion. 
But there are better things to be seen 
than these in the state apartments. 
There are many pictures of great beauty, 


and several of transcendent excellence, 
which the best judges of art may come 
from the ends of Europe to gaze upon. 

We subjoin a list of the pictures and 
the few sculptures in the state apart¬ 
ments which are exhibited to the public, 
in the order in which the rooms are 
shown. The entrance to the apartments 
is by a Gothic porch adjoining to King 
John’s Tower. Here a porter will 
direct the visitor to the attendant who 
shows the rooms. 

1. The Queen’s Ball-Room. 

The paintings in this room, which is 
of considerable extent, but without much 
embellishment, are all by Vandyck :— 

Duke of Berg. 

Charles I. and family 
Duchess of Richmond. 

Lady Venetia Digby. 

Second Duke of Buckingham and his 
Brother. 

Duke of Carignon. 

Killigrew and Carew. 

Madame St. Croix. 

Four Portraits of Charles I.’s Queen, Hen¬ 
rietta. 

Charles I.’s Children. 

Head of Charles I. in three different points 
of view. 

Countess of Carlisle. 

Sir Kenelm Digby. 

Charles II. when a boy. 

Countess of Dorset. 

Vandyck’s own Portrait. 

Three Children of Charles I, 

Charles I. on Horseback. 

Portrait of Snelling. 

2. The Queen’s Drawing-Room. 

This room was decorated under the 
direction of the Queen' Dowager, and 
the arms of England and Saxe Meinin- 
gen surmounted by the crown of Eng- 




WINDSOR. 


51 


land are richly emblazoned on the cove 
of the ceiling; and in other compart¬ 
ments are inscribed the initials W. R. 
and A. R. The paintings are all by 
Zucarelli, and consist of eleven land¬ 
scapes of Italian scenery and the fol- 
ovving scriptural pieces :— 

The Meeting oflsaac and Rebecca. 

The Finding of Moses. 

Jacob Watering his Flock. 


3. The Queen's Closet. 

This is a small room ornamented with 
rich festoons of fruit and flowers. The 
ceiling exhibits the words “ Adelaide 
Regina, 1833” in gold, surmounted by 
the crown. The frames of the large 
mirrors are of massive silver. The 


paintings are:— 

Portrait of Henry VIII. 
Two Landscapes . . 

A Head. 

Ditto. 

Duke of Norfolk. . . 

Duke of Hamilton . . 

Edward VI. 

Virgin and Child. . 
Holy Family .... 
Two Interiors of a Gal¬ 
lery . 

Landscape and Figures 
The Nativity .... 

A Portrait. 

A Head. 

A Head ...... 

Titian and Aretiuses . 
Infant Christ.... 

St. John. 

Erasmus. 

Four Sea Ports in Italy 


Holbein. 

Claude Lorraine. 
Leon, da Vinci. 
Rembrandt. 
Holbein. 
Honthorst. 

Holbein. 

Vandyck. 

Sebas. del Piombo. 

Old Teniers. 
Teniers , Jun. 
Baroccio. 

Bassano. 

G. Dow. 

Rubens. 

Titian. 

C. Maratti 
Guercino. 

Geo. Penn. 

Carlo Veres. 


4. The King's Closet 
Is decorated with naval emblems, and 
the initials “ W. R. ” in the cove of 
the ceiling show that this apartment was 


embellished under the direction of the 
only naval sovereign of England we 
have had since the Revolution. The 


pictures are numerous 
The Emperor Charles 


V. 

Sir A. More. 

Man's Head .... 

Parmegiano. 

Man with a Sword . . 

Spagnoletti. 

St. Sebastian .... 

Guido. 

The Misers .... 

Q. Malsys. 

His own Portrait. . . 

Vuncleeve. 

The Wife of .... 

Ditto. 

A Fair. 

Breughel ., 

Going into the Ark. 

The Interior of a Pic¬ 

Ditto.. 

ture Gallery. . . 

E. Quiltinus.. 

Ecce Homo. 

Carlo Dolci. 

Madonna. 

Ditto. 

St. Catherine . . . 

Guido. 

Small Picture. . . . 

Elchiner. 

Holy Family .... 
The Woman at the 

Tintoretto * 

Well. 

His own Portrait with 

Guercino , 

a Cupid .... 

Ditto. 

Encampment. . . . 

IVouvermans. 

St. Catherine .... 
An Antiquarian with a 

Domenicliino* 

Shell. 


Head of a Young Man. 
Two Views of Windsor 

Parmegiano , 

Castle. 

Vosterman. 

The Last Supper . . 

Rubens. 

Two Landscapes . . 

IVouvermans. 

Still Life, Shells, &c. . 

Francis Franks. 

Prison Scene. 

Steenwyck. 

Landscape, with Horses 
Music Master and 

A. Fandevelde. 

Pupil. 

Eg Ion Vanderneer. 

Two Holy Families . . 

Teniers. 

Holy Family.... 

Julio Romano. 

Holy Family .... 

C. Procauni. 

Two Interiors . . . 

Peter de Nee/. 

Interior, with Figures . 
Gardener to the Duke of 

Jan Steen. 

Florence .... 

A. del Sarto. 

Duke of Alva.... 

Sir A. More. 


5. The King's Council-Room 
Is in the style prevalent at the Restora- 

e 2 


















52 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


tion, and the ceiling is ornamented with 
the arms of Charles IT. : the initials 
C. R. and the date of 1660, the year of 
the Restoration, are inscribed at the 
quarterings of the shield. This apart¬ 
ment contains:— 


Duke of Marlborough 
Cleopatra . . . 

Jonas .... 
Female Head 
Countess of Desmond 
Sea Piece . • . 

St. John . . . 

St. Paul . . . 

St. Peter . . » 

Man with a Book 
A Sibyl . . • 

Female Head . 

St. Catherine 
Holy Family . . 

Man’s Head . . 

Three Landscapes 
A Magdalen . . 

Herodias’ Daughter 
Martin Luther . 
Silence .... 

Man with a Book 
Inside of a Farm-house 
Two Church Pieces 
Virgin and Child . . . 

View of Rome . . . 

Landscape, with Claude 
drawing .... 

St. Agnes. 

Two Holy Families . . 

Landscape and Cattle . 
Prince Rupert . . . 


Kneller. 

Guido. 

N. and G. Poussin 
Parmegiano. 
Rembrandt. 
Claude. 

Correggio. 

Guercino. 

Ditto. 

Holbein. 

Guercino. 

A. del Sarto. 
Leonardo da Vinci. 
Gurofalo. 

Holbein. 

G. Poussin. 

Carlo Dolci. 

Ditto. 

Holbein. 

A. Caracci. 

Parmegiano. 

Teniers. 

De Nee/. 

C. Maratti. 
Claude. 

Ditto. 

Domenichino. 

A. del Sarto. 

Berg hem. 

Sir P. Lely. 


6 . 


The King's Drawing-Room. 


The ceiling of this room is very beauti¬ 
ful, consisting of wreaths encircling the 
letters G. R., the royal arms and various 
insignia, the effect of which is heightened 
by delicate gilding. All the paintings 
are by Rubens :— 

Portrait of Rubens. 

St. Martin dividing his Cloak. 


Holy Family. 

Philip II. of Spain, on Horseback. 

Portrait of Rubens’ First Wife. 

Two Landscapes, Summer and Winter. 
Archduke Albert. 

Family of Sir B. Gerbies. 

Battle of Nordlingen. ■ 

Portrait (unknown). 

7. The Vestibule 

Contains the following paintings by 
West, executed in 1787-8-9, illustrat¬ 
ing some of the principal events of the 
reign of our great king Edw'ard III. 

The Battle of Cressy. 

Surrender of Calais. 

Edward entertaining his Prisoners after 
the Surrender of Calais. 

Battle of Poictiers. 

Battle of Neville's Cross. 

The busts in terra cotta are Edward 
III. and his Queen Philippa. 

8. The Throne-Room 
Is one of the most splendid of the state 
apartments, and is highly and richly 
decorated with the insignia of the Order 
of the Garter. The panels of the walls 
are of oak with Gibbons’ fine carvings ; 
the face of the larger panels is velvet of 
garter blue, and the smaller ones con¬ 
tain mirrors. The only paintings are :—■ 

The Installation of the 
Knights of the 
Garter . ... B. West. 

Portrait, George III. . Gainsborough. 
Portrait, George IV. . Sir T. Lawrence. 
Portrait, William IV. . Sir M. A. Shee. 

9. The Ball . Room 

Is ninety feet long and of corresponding 
proportions in other respects. The em¬ 
bellishments are in the style of Louis 
N1V. with a profusion of gilding, and 
the walls are hung with Gobelin tapes- 










WINDSOR. 


53 


try, representing the story of the Golden 
Fleece. When .used as a ball-room it 
is lighted with four splendid chande¬ 
liers. 

10. The Waterloo Chamber 
Is longer than the ball-room by eight 
feet, and the ceiling is in the style which 
characterises the old mansions of the 
reign of Elizabeth. The paintings are 
more popularly interesting than perhaps 
many of the finer productions of the old 
masters in the other apartments, being 
the portraits of men whose names are 
familiar to the existing generation—the 
sovereigns, statesmen and soldiers who 
either in the cabinet or in the field took 
a prominent part in the last pacification 
of Europe. The room is lighted by a 
gallery of ground glass. The paintings 
are as follow; and with the exception 
of William IV. by Wilkie ; George III. 
by Beechey ; Picton and the Marquis of 
Anglesea by Sir M. A. Shee, and 
General Kemp by Pickersgill, are all by 
Sir Thomas Lawrence :— 

George IV. 

William IV. 

Prince Metternich. 

Earl Bathurst, K.G. 

Field Marshal Blucher. 

Cardinal Gonsalvi. 

Duke of Wellington. 

His Holiness Pope Pius VII. 

Earl of Liverpool, K.G. 

Baron Hardenberg. 

Count Capo d’lstrias. 

Count Nesselrode. 

Marquis of Londonderry, K.G. 

Frederic William III. King of Prussia. 

Francis II. Emperor of Austria. 

Alexander, Emperor of all the Russias. 

The Archduke Charles. 

H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, K.G. 


Duke of York. 

Prince Schwartzenberg. 

Right Hon. George Canning. 

Count Munster. 

Duke de Richelieu. 

Baron Humboldt. 

George III. 

Lieut. Gen. Sir Thomas Picton. 

Marquis of Anglesea. 

Lieut. Gen. Sir James Kemp. 

The visitor is next shown the Grand 
Vestibule , which contains suites of 
armour of the time of Elizabeth and 
Charles I.; the Grand Staircase with 
the marble statue of George IY. by 
Chantrey; the State Ante-room , which 
contains a painting on glass of George 
III. from Sir Joshua Reynolds; and he 
is then conducted to the Guard Chamber , 
a spacious room containing busts of 
Marlborough, Nelson, and Wellington, 
that of the naval hero being placed on 
that part of the mast of his own ship, the 
Victory, which was perforated at Trafal¬ 
gar by a cannon-ball. The banners 
presented annually by the owners of 
Blenheim and Strathfieldsay are appro¬ 
priately placed in this room, which con¬ 
tains many other interesting objects, but 
as they are enumerated and pointed out 
by the attendant, we need not describe 
them in this place. 

15. St. George's Hall. 

This apartment, dedicated to the 
most noble Order of the Garter, is 
generally allowed to be one of the most 
magnificent in Europe. It is 200 feet 
long, 34 broad, and 32 feet high, and the 
south side is lighted by thirteen win¬ 
dows. A noble simplicity is apparent 
in the decorations, which are in the 



54 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


Gothic style, and well befitting the pur¬ 
poses to which the room is appropriated. 
The ceiling contains the armorial bear¬ 
ings of all the Knights of the Garter, 
from its institution to the present time. 
On the north side of the room in re¬ 
cesses corresponding with the windows 
on the opposite side are portraits of the 
following English sovereigns :— 

James I. Dandy ck. 

Charles I. Ditto. 

Charles II. Sir Peter Lely. 

James II. Ditto. 

Mary II. Sir G. Kneller. 

William III. Ditto. 

Queen Anne. Ditto. 

George I. Ditto. 

George II. Zeeman. 

George III. Dupont. 

George IV. Sir T. Lawrence. 

William IV. Ditto. 

16. The Queen's Presence Chamber 
The ceiling is embellished in the hyper¬ 
bolical style of Verrio, and the walls are 
hung with Gobelin tapestry, represent¬ 
ing the story of Queen Esther. This 
room contains only two paintings : 

Two Princesses of Brunswick, 


1609 . Unknown. 

Duchess of Orleans, youngest 

daughter of Charles I. . . Meneard. 


17. The Queen's Audience Chamber 
Exhibits further specimens of Verrio’s 
art; and the tapestry on the walls is a 
continuation of the subject in the pre¬ 
vious room. The following paintings are 
in this apartment, which completes the 
suite exhibited to the public: — 

Portrait of Mary Queen of 

Scots .. Janette. 

Frederick, Prince of Orange, 

grandfather of William III. . Danhorst. 
William, Prince of Orange, 
father of William III. . . . Ditto. 


THE ROUND TOWER. 

The Round Tower, the ancient keep 
of the Castle, is also exhibited to the 
public. The views from the top are 
exceedingly beautiful, and so extensive 
as to embrace parts of the following 
twelve counties:—Middlesex, Essex, 
Hertford, Bucks, Berks, Wilts, Oxford, 
Hants, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Bed 
ford. 

There is nothing very remarkable in 
the apartments, except in the Armoury, 
where there are some curious specimens 
of the cumbrous fire-arms that were car¬ 
ried by the infantry in the early days of 
gunpowder warfare, when matches held 
the place of flints, and the charge of 
powder was borne in little wooden boxes, 
hung about the shoulders. Here are 
two suits of mail, said to have belonged 
to John King of France, and David 
King of Scotland, who were prisoners 
in this tower. The legend is appro¬ 
priate, but not trustworthy. This tower 
is famous in the romance of history as 
the prison for many years of King 
James I. of Scotland, a true as well as 
a royal poet. 

In one of Lady Mary Fox’s annual 
volumes, published for the benefit of the 
Kensington school of Industry, there,is 
an interesting record of other prisoners 
of less note, who have been confined at 
Windsor Castle, particularly of the 
faithful royalists who adhered to the 
cause of the unfortunate Charles I., 
some of whom traced with their own 
hands the records of their captivity in 
the Norman Tower. This tower is in 
that part of the castle which forms the 


















WINDSOR. 


55 


western entrance, between the north 
terrace and the keep, and the apart¬ 
ments formerly appropriated to the cap¬ 
tives are now occupied by the state 
housekeeper. Various alterations which 
have been made from time to time have 
obliterated many of the sad memorials, 
so that there now only remain four 
tablets on which the names of the pri¬ 
soners are engraven. The date in the 
majority of cases is 1648, a year fraught 
with disasters to Charles I. But there 
is one name which bears an earlier date 
—that of Sir Edmund Fortescue—who 
appears to have been an inmate of these 
apartments in 1642-43, as a tablet over 
the fire-place in a room which commands 
a fine view of the Thames and of the 
distant hills of Berkshire is inscribed as 
follows:—S r -Edmund Fortescue Pri¬ 
soner In This Chamber The 12th Day 
of Januarie, 1642: Pour le Roy C.” 
The next room contains inscriptions 
which were evidently connected with 
the fatal conflict in South Wales several 
years afterwards. They bear the date 
of 1648. After the parliamentary 
victory of St. Fagons the estates of 
several gentlemen taken prisoners were 
sold, and the money given as a gratuity 
to the parliamentary soldiers. Deprived 
of property and liberty, the prisoners 
lingered in the Norman Tower until 
death or the Restoration put an end to 
their captivity. Another tablet is 
inscribed as follows:—“ 1648, Antho: 
Bayly. Pris: the 8. of Septem: Col- 
ches r ” Bayly was one of the survivors 
of the memorable siege which Colchester 
sustained on behalf of Charles. 


st. george’s chapel. 

Edward III. erected at Windsor a 
chapel dedicated to St. George, for the 
especial service of the Order of the 
Garter; but the present beautiful chapel 
is of later date. It was begun by 
Edward IV., who found it necessary to 
take down the original fabric on account 
of its decayed state. The work was not 
completed till the beginning of the 
reign of Henry VIII. So beautiful a 
monument of architectural skill could 
not have been hurried forward as the 
ruder buildings of the Castle were. 
This is the object at Windsor, which is 
most deserving the lingering gaze of 
the stranger, and which loses none of its 
charms after the acquaintance of years. 
The exquisite proportions, and the rich 
yet solemn ornaments of the interior of 
this unrivalled edifice, leave an effect 
upon the mind which cannot be described. 
The broad glare of day displays the ad¬ 
mirable finishing of its various parts, as 
elaborate as the joinery work of a cabinet, 
and yet harmonising in one massive 
and simple whole. The calm twilight 
does not abate the splendour of this 
building, while it adds to its solemnity ; 
for then— 

<e The storied window, richly dight,” 
catches the last rays of the setting sun; 
and as the cathedral chaunt steals over 
the senses, the genius of the place com¬ 
pels the coldest heart to be devout in a 
temple of such perfect beauty. The 
richly-decorated roof, supported on 
clustered columns, which spread on each 
side like the branches of a grove—the 
painted windows, representing in glow- 




[St. George’s Chapel,—South Front.] 


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































WINDSOR. 


57 



ing colours some remarkable subjects of 
Christian history—the banners and es¬ 
cutcheons of the Knights of the Garter, 
flittering in the choir above their carved 
stalls, within which are affixed the 
armorial bearings of each Knight Com¬ 
panion from the time of the founder, 
Edward III.; all these objects are full 
of interest, and powerfully seize upon 
the imagination. Though this building 
and its decorations are pre-eminently 
beautiful, it is perfectly of a devotional 
character; and if any thing were wanting 
to carry the thoughts above the earth, 


the observer must feel the vanity of all 
greatness and all honour, save the true 
and imperishable glory of virtue, when 
he here treads upon the graves of 
Edward IV. and Henry VI., of Henry 
VIII. and Charles I., and remembers 
that, distinguished as these monarchs 
were for contrasts of good and evil for¬ 
tune, the pride and the humility, the 
triumphs and the degradations of the 
one and the other are blended in the 
grave— 

“Together meet the oppressor and th’op¬ 
pressed ”— 


[Interior of St. George’s Chapel.] 

































58 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


and they are now judged, as they wanted 
or exhibited those Christian excellencies 
which the humblest amongst us may 
attain. 

There are not many monuments pos¬ 
sessing merit as works of art in St. 
George’s Chapel. The cenotaph of the 
Princess Charlotte is a performance of 
some excellence in particular figures; 
but as a whole, it is in vicious taste. 
Edward IV. is buried here, beneath the 
steel tomb of Quentin Matsys; his un¬ 
happy rival, Henry VI., lies in the 
opposite aisle? under a plain marble 
stone. Henry VIII. and Charles I. are 
entombed under the choir, without any 
memorial. At the foot of the altar is a 
subterranean passage communicating 
with the tomb-house, in which is the 
cemetery of the present race of kings. 

THE PARKS. 

Windsor Castle is surrounded on the 
north and south sides by a very beau¬ 
tiful domain called the Little Park. 
This park has no doubt been appur¬ 
tenant to the Castle for a very long 
period. Here several of the most amus¬ 
ing scenes of Shakspeare’s ‘ Merry 
Wives of Windsor’ are laid; and, until 
lately tradition pointed out a withered 
tree as the identical oak of “ Herne the 
hunter.” 

“There is an old tale goes, that Herne the 
hunter, 

Some time a keeper here in Windsor Forest, 
Doth all the winter time, at still midnight, 
Walk round about the oak with great ragg’d 
horns.” 

In the ‘ Pictorial Shakspere’ (Local 
illustrations of Act V. of the ‘Merry 


Wives of Windsor,’) the controversy 
respecting Herne’s Oak is brought 
together; and, on the authority of 
George III., it is stated that this famous 
tree was inadvertently cut down when 
the king was a young man. Fortunately 
a sketch of it had been made before it 
was felled. 

This Little Park was formerly part 
of Windsor Forest; but in progress of 
time the public road to the town was 
carried through it, and parcels of land 
surrounding the town became private 
property. In the reign of Queen 
Anne that part of Windsor Forest which 
remained the property of the Crown, 
under the name of the Great Park, was 
cut off from the Castle by the inter¬ 
vening private property. To remedy 
this inconvenience it was resolved, in 
that reign, to purchase as much land as 
might be required to complete an avenue 
leading from the Castle to the Forest. 
This was done, and the present Long 
Walk was formed. 

The Long Walk is generally con¬ 
sidered the finest thing of its kind in 
Europe. A perfectly straight road runs 
from the principal entrance of the 
Castle to the top of a commanding hill 
in the Great Park, called Snow Hill— 
a distance of more than three miles. 
On each side of the road, which is 
slightly elevated, is a double row of 
stately elms, now at their maturity,— 
some indeed beginning to show signs of 
decay. Nothing can be finer than the 
general effect of this immense vista. 
The stranger who is tempted to pursue 
the road to its termination on the hill is 



WINDSOR 


59 



[Herne’s Oak.] 


amply repaid by a most splendid pros¬ 
pect, of great extent, and comprehend¬ 
ing objects of powerful interest. He is 
now upon the ridge, whose continuation 
about a mile to the eastward, leads to a 
spot which has given a name to the 
earliest, and in some respects the best, 
descriptive poem of our language, 


‘ Cooper’s Hill.’ Windsor Castle ap¬ 
pears almost at his feet; to his left is a 
magnificent expanse of forest scenery; to 
his right is the Thames, seen beyond the 
little plain ofRunnemede, where Magna 
Charta was extorted from King John by 
his barons. The hills in the distance 
are those of Harrow and Hampstead. 

















60 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


In 1832 a colossal equestrian statue 
of George III. was erected on the 
highest point of this hill. The figure 
terminates the avenue, at a distance of 
about three miles and a half from the 
Castle, and, of course, forms a prominent 
object at every step of the way. It is 
raised upon a mass of stones intended 
to represent a rock. The total eleva¬ 
tion of the statue and its pedestal is 
more than fifty feet. The statue itself 
is twenty-six feet in height. The cir¬ 
cumstance, however, of the gradual 
approach to it through a vista of very 
lofty trees, and the large forms of the 
trees immediately surrounding it, 
greatly diminish the effect of its gi¬ 
gantic proportions. Till the spectator 
approaches within a hundred yards, he 
does not feel that the figures are of 
colossal dimensions. The likeness of 
the face to George III. is very admir¬ 
able ; but those who recollect that 
monarch in his plain blue coat, or his 
military jack-boots, will have difficulty 
to recognise .him in his Roman cos¬ 
tume. 

The walks and drives through the 
Park present scenes of great loveliness 
and variety. One of the most pleasing 
roads leads to a village on the verge of 
the Great Park called Blacknest. Here 
is an entrance to the fine lake amidst 
the woods called “ Virginia Water,” to 
which admission is given on application 
at the Keeper’s Lodge. This district of 
the forest was planted, and the lake 
formed, under the direction of Paul 
Sandby, at a time when Duke William 
of Cumberland resided at the lodge 


which bears his name, lying not far 
from the top of the Long Walk. The 
lake is the largest piece of artificial 
water in the kingdom; if artificial 
it can be called—for the hand of man 
has done little more than turn the small 
streams of the district into a natural 
basin. The grounds are several miles 
in extent; although so perfectly secluded 
that a traveller might pass on the high 
road without being aware that he was 
near any object that could gratify his 
curiosity. They are now covered with 
magnificent timber, originally planted 
with regard to the grandest effects of 
what is called landscape gardening. 

Entering by the gate at Blacknest, 
we pass through a close wood of pines 
to some “ alleys green,’’ which lead in 
different directions. Those to the right 
carry us up a steep hill, upon the sum¬ 
mit of which is a handsome building 
called the Belvedere. Those to the 
left conduct to the margin of the lake. 
A scene of great beauty soon bursts 
upon the view. A verdant walk, 
bounded by the choicest evergreens, 
leads by the 'fcide of a magnificent 
breadth of water. The opposite shore 
is covered with heath ; and plantations 
of the most graceful trees—the larch, 
the ash, and the weeping birch, (“ the 
lady of the woods,”) break the line of 
the more distant hills. The boundary 
of the lake is everywhere most judi¬ 
ciously concealed ;—and the imagina¬ 
tion cannot refrain from believing that 
some great river lies beyond that 
screening wood. Every now and then 
the road carries us through some close 





rFUhimr Temmle on Yinrinia Water.] 










































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































62 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


walk of pines and laurels, where the 
rabbit and squirrel run across with 
scarcely a fear of man. But we again 
find ourselves upon the margin of the 
lake, which increases in breadth as we 
approach its head. At the point where 
it is widest, a fishing temple was 
erected by George IV.; which, as seen 
from the shore we are describing, is 
represented in the wood-cut. 

The public road from the Western 
road to Sunninghill and Reading is 
carried over a bold arch which is not far 
out of the line of our walk. This is a 
singularly beautiful spot. To our minds 
it is not now so much in accordance 
with the general character of the scenery 
as it was some ten years ago. Several 
antique fragments of Greek columns 
and pediments, that used to lie in the 
court-yard of the British Museum, now 
form an artificial ruin. Real ruins , 
removed from the sites to which they 
belong, are the worst species of exotics. 
The tale which they tell of their old 
grandeur is quite out of harmony with 
their modern appropriation. The ruins 
here are prettily put together ; but they 
are merely picturesque. 

A walk from this spot of a quarter of 
a mile brings us to the cascade at the 
head of the lake. Cascades are much 
upon the same plan, whether natural or 
artificial; the scale alone makes the 
difference. This cascade is sufficiently 
large not to look like a plaything; and 
yet it gives but an imperfect notion of a 
fi ne natural cascade. It wants height, 
and volume of water. In the latter 
particular of excellence, however, the 


grandest cascades are often very disap¬ 
pointing. After a mountain storm, when 
the gills (little runnels) sparkle down 
the sides of the barren rocks, and the 
force leaps over some fearful chasm in 
one unbroken sheet, cascades are worthy 
of the poetical descriptions which have 
been so often lavished upon them. In 
other seasons they appear very feeble 
additions to the charms of the mighty 
lakes and solemn mountains amidst 
whose solitudes they are found. 

From the bottom of the cascade a road 
has been formed to the bank of the lake, 
opposite that which we have been de¬ 
scribing. The walks here areas verdant 
and as beautiful as those we have left. 
We reach a rustic bridge, and cross one 
of the streams that feed the lake. Here 
we are in a more wild and open country. 
We may trace the course of the little 
stream amongst the underwood; or 
strike into the path which leads to the 
village of Bishopgate. The finest wood¬ 
land scenery, and spots of the most 
delicious seclusion, where nothing is 
heard on a summer noon but that in¬ 
describable buz with which every lover 
of solitude is familiar, will amply repay 
for a lingering hour. Bishopgate is a 
beautiful spot, surrounded by the most 
delightful varieties of hill and dale, of 
wood and water. The poet Shelley, who 
had a true eye for the picturesque, re¬ 
sided for some time here. The Royal 
Lodge, which was close by, (the favorite 
retreat of George IV.,) is now pulled 
down. The common road from Bishop¬ 
gate to Windsor is through that vista 
of magnificent elms, the Long Walk al- 



WINDSOR. 


63 


ready described. There is a more secluded 
horse-road, which affords some exquisite 
views of the Castle, and many forest 
scenes of striking beauty; or the pedes¬ 
trian may take a foot-path leading 
through the plantations to Old Windsor 
Church, which stands in the extreme 
eastern point of the county, and in the 
very rural and solemn churchyard of 
which lies interred the celebrated Mrs. 
Robinson. From thence, returning to 
Windsor, by the road which leads from 
Egham through Runnemede and Old 
Windsor, the traveller will pass Frog- 
more, the elegant residence of the 
Princess Augusta. The gardens and 


grounds comprise about thirteen acres 
laid out in the most approved style of 
horticultural taste. The flower par¬ 
terres, lawns, and embowered walks, are 
everything which could be desired in a 
pleasure-ground, and the scene is diver¬ 
sified by a marine grotto, a Brahmin’s 
hut, a temple dedicated to Solitude, an 
Italian temple, a hermitage, and a 
picturesque Gothic ruin, from a design 
by Mr. Wyatt, containing an oratory. A 
piece of water forms a refreshing feature 
in front of the principal apartments. 
The house and grounds may be visited 
occasionally in the absence of her 
royal highness. 



[Scene in Windsor Forest.] 



61 


CHAPTER III. 

WINDSOR TO READING. 


The traveller to whom the most direct 
communication is the most desirable, 
having to proceed from Windsor to 
Reading, will return to Slough, and 
continue by the railway. To the lover 
of fine scenery, on the other hand, 
nothing can be more interesting than 
several of the high-roads, particularly 
those of the district formerly known as 
Windsor Forest. There is a choice of 
routes. 

THE FOREST ROAD. 

Leaving Windsor by Peascod Street, 
we reach a suburb called Spital, and 
then onto Clewer Green, in Clewer 
parish, which extends into and com¬ 
prises a considerable portion of the town 
of Windsor. The village of Clewer is 
situated on the bank of the Thames, 
about one mile west of Windsor. 
Amongst other memorials in the parish 
church is a brass, on which are some 
lines commemorative of Martin Expence, 
who shot a match of archery against 
one hundred men, near Bray. The road 
continues through some of the finest 
scenery of the Great Park, passing 
under the beautiful seats of St. Leonard’s 
Hill and St. Leonard’s Dale, on to 
Winkfield Plain. Winkfield is sur¬ 


rounded by several agreeable seats: 
Cranbourn Lodge, built by the Earl of 
Ranelagli, in the reign of Charles II., 
the successive residence of several 
members of the royal family, is 'now 
pulled down. There is an endowment 
in this parish for educating and clothing 
twenty-one boys and twenty-one girls, 
and 5l. is paid as a premium on their 
being apprenticed. Attached to the 
school is a chapel in which service is 
performed; and the annual value of the 
endowment is said to amount to 250/. 
per annum. The school-house was built 
in 1710 by the Earl of Ranelagh. 
Ascot, where one of the chief racing 
meetings in the kingdom is held, is in 
the parish of Winkfield. Warfield is a 
parish containing a considerable hamlet, 
Bracknell, where three annual fairs are 
held. 

Binfield, three miles from Woking¬ 
ham, and about eight from Windsor, is 
situated on the northern border of the 
heaths which extend along the southern 
edge of the county. Besides Binfield 
Manor House and Binfield Place there 
are several other seats in the neighbour¬ 
hood. 

Henry, Earl of Sterling, secretary of 
state for Scotland, who died in 1739, 




WINDSOR TO READING. 


65 


Admiral Sir Edward Vernon, who took 
Pondicherry, and Mrs. Catherine Ma- 
cauley Graham, authoress of a history 
of England, are interred at Binfield. 
It is, however, most celebrated as having 
been the residence of Pope from the 
early age of six until he removed to 
Twickenham. The father of the poet, 
having accumulated a considerable 
fortune by business in London, retired 
to this place during the infancy of his 
son, and here purchased a house and 
estate. Speaking of this house, Pope 
calls it 

-“ my paternal cell. 

A little house, with trees a-row, 

And, like its master, very low.” 

About half a mile from the house, an 
interesting memorial of the poet still 
remains, or at least did so a few years 
since, when the writer last visited the 
spot. There is here a fine grove of 
beeches, pleasantly situated on the gentle 
slope of a hill, which commands an 
agreeable though not extensive view of 
the surrounding country. This grove 
was a favourite resort of Pope’s, who is 
said to have composed many of his 
earlier pieces sitting under the shade of 
one of the trees, below which a seat was 
then placed. The recollection of this 
circumstance was preserved by Lady 
Gower, an admirer of the poet, who 
caused the words “Here Pope sung” 
to be cut in large letters in the bark, at 
some height from the ground; and as 
this inscription, at the time we mention, 
was distinctly legible, it was no doubt, 
at one period, occasionally renewed. 
About seventeen years ago, when first 


seen by the writer, the tree was standing 
in a sound state, and apparently little 
injured by time, although the bark, to 
the height of seven or eight feet, was 
nearly covered with the names of visitors, 
many of which, with the dates, were cut 
deeply into it. When the writer last 
saw this interesting relic of the poet, a 
year or two after his first visit, it pre¬ 
sented a sad appearance of dilapidation; 
the upper part of the tree having been 
entirely broken off by a violent storm 
which had happened a short time pre¬ 
vious, and lying prostrate on the ground, 
stripped of its branches, as shown in a 
drawing, which was made at the time, 
of which the engraving is a copy. It 
is somewhat remarkable that none of 
the neighbouring trees were inj ured by 
the storm, which thus destroyed the 
object which, for near a century, had 
consecrated the spot. 

Bill Hill, a little to the left of the 
road, in the parish of Hurst, is a seat of 
the Gower family. Bambridge House 
occupies an eminence in the vicinity; 
and near it is Haines Hill Park. 
Billingbear Park is on the left before 
reaching Binfield; and Bear Wood 
about a mile beyond Bill Hill. 

About five miles from Reading, the 
road from Windsor enters into the great 
Bath Road, described in the next chapter. 

THE WOKINGHAM ROAD. 

The road from Windsor to Wokingham 
is in fact the same as that last described ; 
but it may be varied by branching more 
into Windsor Forest in the direction of 
Sunning Hill and Bagshot. 

F 









REPOPE si) 








jnL^JtvVtvjr 

*'ff* i\ IV ' 



I 


[rope’s Tree at Binfleld.j 






















































































































































































































































WINDSOR TO READING. 


67 


Wokingham, orOakingham,amarket 
town in the precincts of Windsor Forest, 
about seven miles E.S.E. from Reading. 
The parish is partly in Berkshire and 
partly in an insulated district of Wilt¬ 
shire ; the chief part of the town, however, 
is in the former. Wokingham consists 
of several streets meeting in a common 
centre, where they inclose a spacious 
area, comprising a neat market-place and 
the principal shops. The market is held 
by prescription : in 1227 the bishop of Sa¬ 
lisbury procured a grant from the king, 
that he might hold the market here 
peaceably. In 1258 the same bishop had 
the grant of two fairs. The church, 
which stands in the Wilts district, is a 
large handsome structure, and contains a 
monument to Thomas Godwin, bishop 
of Bath and Wells, who lies buried here. 
There are places of worship for Baptists 
and Wesleyan Methodists. In the parish 
register is a record of the burial of 
Thomas Buck in 1682 at the age of 
115. The town-hall and market-house 
is a ve'ry ancient building, framed with 
timber. There is an abundant supply 
of water from the wells. The atmosphere 
of Wokingham is considered peculiarly 
pure and healthy, and the inhabitants 
are noted for longevity. The market, 
held on Tuesday, is famous for the 
great quantity of poultry generally 
offered for sale, and which is bought by 
higglers to be retailed in London. The 
fairs are held on the 23rd of April, 
11th of June, 11th of October, and 2nd 
of November: the two first, however, 
are insignificant, and not even held with 
regularity. The inhabitants are princi¬ 


pally employed in the malting and flour 
trades, in throwing silk, and in the 
manufacture of gauze and shoes. The 
woollen manufactory was also formerly 
carried on. The government of the town 
is vested in an alderman and eleven 
burgesses. A court of quarter sessions 
sits twice in the year: the ancient 
(Windsor) forest courts were also held 
in Wokingham. The free schools, 
supported by bequests and subscrip¬ 
tions, educate thirty-six boys and 
twelve girls. There are two day and 
Sunday schools on the national system, 
in which above two hundred children of 
both sexes are instructed: the school- 
house is a substantial building, erected 
at an expense of 7001. The charities 
are numerous. The principal is the 
hospital on Luckley Green, a mile out 
of the town, founded by Kenry Lucas, 
Esq., in 1665, for sixteen poor pen¬ 
sioners and a master, under the direc¬ 
tion of the Drapers’ Company. The , 
hospital is a handsome brick building, 
which cost 2300£.; attached to it is a 
chapel with a residence for the minister, 
who is the perpetual curate of the 
parish. There are also almshouses for 
sixteen men and women, the foundation 
of Mr. Thomas Westead in 1451. 

The well-known song of * Molly Mog’ 
is connected with the Rose Inn here, 
which was kept by the father of the fair 
one. The current tradition of the place is, 
that Swift, Gay, and other poetic friends, 
having met upon some occasion to dine 
at the Rose, and being detained within 
doors by the weather, it was proposed 
that they should write a song, and that 

r 2 




68 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


each person present should contribute a 
verse: the subject proposed was the 
Fair Maid of the Inn, who, according to 
Lysons, died a spinster at the age of 
67: Lysons states that the other party 
alluded to in this production was the 
last heir male of the Standen family of 
Arborfield. 

Near Luckley Green is a chalybeate 
spring, called Gorrick Well. 

About three and a half miles south of 
Wokingham is Finchampstead, which 
had once an annual fair, long since 
discontinued. The right of holding a 
fair is one of the privileges of the manor 
of West Court in this parish. 

About two and a half miles south¬ 
east of Finchampstead, and five from 
Wokingham, is Sandhurst, and'in that 
part of the parish which abuts on the 
London and Exeter road is the Royal 
Military College for the instruction of 
cadets for the army, and where com¬ 
missioned officers prepare themselves 
for the higher branches of their profes¬ 
sion. The college is a plain edifice with 
a Doric portico, and is calculated to 
accommodate four hundred cadets and 
thirty students of the senior class, with 
the officers and masters of the institu¬ 
tion. A chapel, an observatory, and a 
riding-school appertain to the college, 
and the whole suite of buildings stands 
in the midst of a plantation and pleasure 
ground. The Royal Military College 
was commenced at High Wycombe in 
1799 ; three years afterwards it was 
removed to Great Marlow; and in 1812 
the institution was placed at Sandhurst, 
Just at the southern extremity of the 


parish of Sandhurst, not far from the 
college, stands an obelisk, which it is 
said may be seen on a clear day from 
Hampstead Heath with a good telescope. 

Leaving Wokingham by the road to 
Staines, we have Easthampstead on 
the right, three miles from Wokingham, 
and about one and a half mile from 
the road. In the reign of Richard II. 
(1377—1399) there was a royal hunt¬ 
ing-seat here, which appears to have 
been used occasionally down to the 
reign of James I. On one occasion, 
when Queen Catherine was at East¬ 
hampstead Park, Henry VIII. sent 
some of the lords of the council to her 
there to prevail upon her to consent to 
a divorce. In the parish church are 
interred Sir William Farnbull, secretary 
of state in the reign of William III., 
and Fenton, the poet, both friends of 
Pope, who wrote each of their epitaphs. 
Easthampstead Park is the seat of the 
Marquis of Downshire. 

About one and a half south of East¬ 
hampstead Park, and three and‘a half 
miles from Wokingham, is the spot 
called Csesar’s Camp, an irregular 
fortification occupying the summit of 
an eminence, and flanked by a double 
ditch. Within a mile southward of 
Csesar’s Camp, on Easthampstead 
Plains, are traces of a Roman road, now 
called the Devil’s Causeway, or the 
Devil’s Highway. In the section on 
‘ Roman Roads and Stations in Berk¬ 
shire,’ which the bishop of Cloyne con¬ 
tributed to Lysons* History, the follow¬ 
ing account is given of this road:— 
“ The Roman road from Silchester to 




WINDSOR TO READING. 


69 


London passed in all probability through 
the south-eastern borders of the county, 
by Park Lane, Stanford, and Fin ch¬ 
ain pstead. Traces of it appear for some 
miles on Bagshot Heath, not far from 
Wickham Bushes, where it is called the 
Devil’s Causeway, being raised, with a 
trench on each side of it, and not less 
than ninety feet wide: it seems to bear 
for Old Windsor or Staines, in a line 
on the other side of which, on Hounslow 
Heath, it was plainly discovered by 
General Roy, at the side of our modern 
western road. It must also be observed, 
that near the course we suppose this 
Roman road to have taken, about a 
quarter of a mile from Bagshot Park, 
and at the same distance from the cross 
road leading from Bagshot to Bracknell, 
in a farm above Heatly Bottom, called 
Roundabout, Roman pottery has been 
found, and part of a Roman camp : the 
same kind of pottery has also been 
found in great abundance near Wickham 
Bushes, all which tends to confirm the 
idea that the great western road to 
London in the time of the Romans 
passed through or near this part of the 
county of Berks.” Near this road is 
Wishmoor Cross. 

On the north-east we have Bagshot 
Heath. The village of Bagshot is in 
Surrey, but a part of the heath is in the 
parish of Wokingham. The southern 
extremity of Bagshot Park, the resi¬ 
dence of the late Duke of Gloucester, is 
just within the limits of Berkshire. 

Previous to reaching the main Bath 
road, we cross the Loddon, and pass 
White Knights, about two miles from 


Reading. This is a plain white build¬ 
ing, situated in the centre of grounds, 
remarkable for the combination of the 
useful with the agreeable, and once 
celebrated for the extensive botanical 
gardens containing a valuable collection 
of rare exotics. It is said that White 
Knights was one of the earliest examples 
in this country of the Ferme Ornee. The 
grounds were formed by the late Duke 
of Marlborough, when Marquis of 
Blandford. 

BY TWYFORD. 

There is a very quiet and in many 
parts picturesque road from Windsor to 
Twyford, and this way is considerably 
shorter than either of the others. But, 
except in dry weather, it is scarcely 
passable. It passes through green 
lanes from Windsor to Oakley Green, 
Tutchen End, Fifield Green, White 
Waltham, Shottesbrooke, and St. Lau- 
rance Waltham, and gains the main 
road at Twyford. 

At White Waltham was a manor 
which formed part of the endowment of 
the college at Shottesbrooke. According 
to Hearne, Prince Arthur, son of Henry 
VII., once resided in the ancient manor- 
house, which was surrounded by a moat. 
The parish church contains a monument 
of Sir Constantine Phipps, Lord Chan¬ 
cellor of Ireland, an ancestor of the 
Marquis of Normanby. Hearne, the 
antiquary, whose father was parish clerk 
of White Waltham, was born here in 
1678. 

The parish church of Shottesbrooke, 
a handsome edifice, in the form of a 





70 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


cross, contains monuments of Sir Wil¬ 
liam Trussell, the founder, and his lady; 
also one of his daughters, with her effigy 
in brass, having a richly ornamented 
head-dress. There are several other 
effigies in brass; and monuments of 
Henry Dodwell, Camden, professor of 
history at Oxford in the early part of 
last century, and of Francis Cherry, his 
friend, and the patron of Hearne, the 
antiquary. 

At Shottesbrooke was formerly a 
small religious house, founded in 1337 
by Sir W. Trussell, of Cublesdon in 
Staffordshire. The foundation consisted 
of a college and chantry, dedicated to 
St.John the Baptist, for one warden, 
five priests, and two clerks. Although 
Sir William took care to have it well 
endowed, yet, in the course of a few 
years, owing to fire and other accidents, 
the foundation was reduced to such a 
deplorable condition, that the whole 
establishment, with the exception of 
John Bradford, the warden, quitted it. 
The circumstances at length reaching 
the king’s ears, he gave license to 
impropriate the church of Battlesden, 
in this county, to it; which was accord¬ 
ingly done in 1380. Having received 
so considerable an accession to its 


revenues, together with other benefac ¬ 
tions, it continued in a flourishing state 
till it was suppressed with other religious 
houses in the reign of Henry VIII. 
The last warden was Sir William 
Throckmorton, who lies buried in the 
parish church. 

Shottesbrooke House is a substantial 
brick castellated edifice, ornamented in 
parts with stucco, and surmounted by 
an embattled parapet. A neat corridor 
leads to the interior from the garden. 
The manor of Shottesbrooke was an¬ 
ciently held by a singular service, that of 
providing charcoal to make the crown 
and other regalia for the king’s corona¬ 
tion, the sum of sixty shillings and ten- 
pence being allowed for the same. This 
singular tenure originated in the time of 
William Rufus, when the manor of So - 
tesbrok , as it was then called, was held 
by Alward the goldsmith. A family 
who took their name from the village, 
were the most ancient possessors of this 
demesne, of whom mention is found. It 
passed from their hands in the beginning 
of the 14th century, and was afterwards 
in the possession of several families until 
the year 1713, when the representative 
of F. Cherry, Esq., sold it to an ancestor 
of the Vansittart family. 




71 


C H A P r 

MAIDENHEAD 

By the railway the Maidenhead station 
is only four miles from the one at Slough. 
The London and Bath road enters Berk¬ 
shire at Maidenhead, which is twenty- 
five and a half miles from London. We 
may either proceed to Reading by the 
railway, a distance of nearly fourteen 
miles, or pursue the highway. In the 
latter case the traveller will pass through 
or near to the places subsequently de¬ 
scribed, commencing at Maidenhead. 

Maidenhead is a small but neat 
town, a little way from the Thames, 
which is crossed by a handsome bridge. 
The town was formerly called South 
Ealington, and the name Maidenhead 
was said to have been given to it from 
the veneration paid to the head of one 
of the eleven thousand British virgins 
who, according to an ancient but fabu¬ 
lous legend, were martyred by Attila, 
king of the Huns ; but as in the most 
ancient records it is written Maidenhithe 
or Maydenehy the,* it is more likely that 
the name was first given to the spot 
where Maidenhead bridge now crosses 


* Hithe is a word of Saxon origin (haeh, a ditch or 
treuch), and is said to signify a small port or quay ; 
thus we have Lamb-hithe or Lambeth, Queenhithe; 
Hytlre on the Kent coast, &c. 


ER IV. 

TO READING. 

the Thames, where was formerly a great 
wharfage of timber and firewood. There 
has been a bridge at this spot from an 
early date, certainly from the thirteenth 
century, and the erection of it diverted 
the course of the great western road, 
which appears before that time to have 
crossed the river about two miles higher, 
at Babham Ferry, near Cookham. From 
this change of the road the town of 
Maidenhead took its rise, and it soon 
outstripped Bray, which may be consi¬ 
dered its mother-town, and in which 
parish it partly stands. 

Maidenhead consists of one longpaved 
street. It has a chapel, erected of late 
years on the site of a former one taken 
down as being too small. The bridge 
consists of seven semicircular arches of 
stone, and three smaller arches of brick 
at each end. There is an almshouse 
founded by James Smith, Esq., in 1659, 
between the bridge and the town, for 
eight poor men and their wives. The 
chief trade of the place is in meal, malt, 
and timber ; and it is a great thorough¬ 
fare, in consequence of which there are 
several inns. The market is on Wed¬ 
nesday, and is a considerable mart for 
corn. There are three fairs. Maiden¬ 
head has a corporation, consisting of a 




72 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


mayor, high steward, steward or recorder, 
and eleven burgesses, two of whom are 
annually chosen bridge-masters. The 
mayor, high steward, steward, and the 
mayor of the preceding year are justices 
of the peace ; and the mayor presides in 
a court for the recovery of small debts, 
which is held every three weeks. The 
corporation have the power of making 
bye-laws, and there is a jail for debtors 
and felons. The corporation revenues 
consist chiefly of the tolls of the markets 
and the bridge. The town is in the 
parishes of Cookham and Bray; the 
chapel is in the former. The minister 
is appointed by the mayor and bridge- 
masters, and is said to be exempt from 
episcopal jurisdiction. The population, 
owing to the town not forming a distinct 
parish, cannot be given. It is probably 
about 1500. There are a National 
school and a Sunday school, and three 
dissenting places of worship. 

About li mile to the left of Maiden¬ 
head is Bray (near the road from 
Maidenhead to Windsor), which gives 
name to a hundred, and in the parish 
of which, as already stated, the town of 
Maidenhead partly stands. It is cele¬ 
brated for the versatility of principle 
manifested by one of its incumbents, 
whence ‘ the Vicar of Bray ’ has become 
a proverbial expression for a man who 
can shift his principles with the times. 
The well-known song of‘the Vicar of 
Bray ’ represents this personage as living 
in the time of Charles II. and his suc¬ 
cessors, down to George I.; but Fuller, 
in his ‘Worthies of England,’ gives 
the following account:—“The vivacious 


vicar hereof, living under King Henry 
VIII., King Edward VI., Queen Mary, 
and Queen Elizabeth, was first a Papist, 
then a Protestant, then a Papist, then a 
Protestant again. He had seen some 
martyrs burnt (two miles off) at Windsor, 
and found this fire too hot for his tender 
temper. This vicar being taxed by one 
for being a turn-coat, and an unconstant 
changeling, ‘Not so/ said he, ‘for I 
always kept my principle, which is this, 
to live and die the vicar of Bray.’ Such 
many, now-a-days, who, though they 
cannot turn the wind, will turn their 
mills, and set them so, that wheresoever 
it blowetli, their grist shall certainly be 
grinded.” (Vol. i. p. 79, Nichols’ edit. 
1811.) 

About one mile westward of Bray is 
Ockwells, formerly called Ockholt, a 
most interesting specimen of the old 
manor-house. The hall windows contain 
the arms of England with antelopes as 
supporters, from which circumstance, 
Lysons conjectures that Ockwells was 
built in the reign of Henry VI., he being 
the only English sovereign who intro¬ 
duced them in his arms. This inference 
is correct; for Henry died in 1461, and in 
1465, JohnNorreys (probably a descend¬ 
ant of Richard de Norreys, cook to 
Eleanor, queen of Henry III., who had 
granted Ockholt to the said Richard) 
made a will in which he left a certain 
sum for the completion of the present 
mansion, “ to the full building and 
making uppe of the chapell, with the 
chamber adjoyning, within my mannor 
of Ockholt, in the parish of Bray, not 
yet finished.” About sixty years ago, a 




MAIDENHEAD TO READING. 


73 


considerable portion of the manor-house 
was burnt down, a beggar having set fire 
to some straw in shaking out the un¬ 
extinguished ashes of his pipe. The 
portion now existing is a farm-house in 
the possession of John Shackell, Esq. 
The numerous gables of the old mansion 
are most striking and picturesque, and 
the porch and corridor have a quaintness 
united with simplicity which renders 
them very pleasing. Unfortunately the 
effect of the fine old carved roof of the 
hall is injured by a flat ceiling. The 
large window of six bays is in a very 
perfect state. The windows are chiefly 
occupied with coats of arms, having 
crests and lambrequins, one in each 
window, on a ground of diagonal stripes, 
containing flowers and mottoes in text 
hand, placed alternately. Among the 
arms are those of King Henry the 


Sixth, with the antelopes, his supporters; 
and of his queen, Margaret of Anjou, 
with her supporters, the antelope and 
eagle; also the arms of Norreys, with 
beavers for supporters ; the Abbey of 
Westminster; Beaufort, Duke of So¬ 
merset ; Edmund, last Earl of March; 
Henry, Duke of Warwick; De la Pole, 
Duke of Suffolk; Sir William Beau¬ 
champ, Lord St. Amand ; Sir William 
Lacon of Bray, Chief Justice of the 
King’s Bench; the Lord Wenlock; 
Sir Richard Nanfan, Captain of Calais ; 
Sir John Pury, Knight, of Chamber- 
house Castle, in the parish of Thatcham, 
and of one or two other distinguished 
personages. 

The arms of King Henry VI., Queen 
Margaret, and the Norreys family, are 
the most striking. In the compartment 
containing the first there is the crown 



[Manor-house, Ockwells.] 


























74 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


with the arms of England beneath ; and 
down the window are repetitions of the 
motto, “ Dieu et mon Droit,” running 
obliquely from left to right. In another 
compartment, devoted to Queen Mar¬ 
garet of Anjou, there is the crown of the 
Queen Consort, with the arms beneath, 
and, running from left to right as in the 
last instance are repetitions of the 
Queen's motto, “ Humble et Loiall.” In 
the compartment of the Norreys family, 
there are the family arms, and numerous 
repetitions of the family motto, “Feyth- 
fully serve,” with the name Norrys at 
the left hand bottom corner. 

In a very beautiful work by Mr. Nash, 
entitled ‘The Mansions of England in 
the Olden Time,’ there are three diffe¬ 
rent views of this old house; and in 
concluding his account of Ockwells he 
says :—“ Altogether, this house is well 
deserving the attention of the architect 
as well as the antiquary; for it offers 
many features that might be adapted to 
the present style of building country 
residences of moderate dimensions.” 

On the direct road, about two miles from 
Maidenhead, is Maidenhead Thicket, 
in former times a notorious resort of 
highwaymen. The course of the road is 
through a beautiful woodland country 
past Folly Hill, from which the views are 
particularly fine; next past Reading 
Pond, Vines Hill, Stubbing Heath, and 
Littlewick Green, with Ashley Hill on 
the right, and then past Knowl Hill, Bear 
Hill, Kiln Green, and Scarlet’s, to— 

Twyford, so called from there having 
been two fords here over the river Lod- 
don, not far from its confluence with the 


Thames. Twyford is a chapelry within 
the parish of Hurst, and is distant about 

miles from the parish church, but in 
1721 an episcopal chapel was built at the 
expense of Edward Polehampton, Esq. 
He also founded a charity school for the 
education often boys; and in 1640, 
Lady Frances Winchcombe left a chari¬ 
table provision for six poor persons. The 
parish of Hurst is very extensive, and 
consists of four liberties, each of which 
appoints its own local officers. The 
manor was originally granted by King 
Edgar to the abbot and convent of 
Abingdon. In the church are some 
handsome monuments, particularly the 
two following:—A monument to Lady 
Margaret Saville, wife of the learned 
and munificent Sir Henry Saville, 
warden of Merton College, Oxford, and 
founder of the professorships known by 
his name in that university ; and one to 
Sir Richard Harrison and his lady. Sir 
Richard on two different occasions raised 
a troop of horse for the service of Charles 
I. at his own expense. The monument 
represents him in armour, kneeling on 
one knee, whilst his lady is reclining with 
one arm on a stool, and holding a broken 
cord in the hand of the other. The 
figures by Stanton are well executed in 
white marble. Haines Hill, in this 
parish, is the birth-place of Sir Francis 
Windebank, Secretary of State to 
Charles I. 

About a mile and a half from Twyford, 
on the left, is the small parish of Rus- 
comb; and Sonning is on the right, 
distant about two miles. It is in the 
hundred of Sonning, and is distant about 



MAIDENHEAD TO READING, BY HENLEY. 


75 


three miles N.E. from Reading, on the 
banks of the Thames, over which there 
is here a bridge. It has been said that 
this place was a bishop’s see, during the 
separation of Wiltshire, and, as some 
suppose, Berkshire, from the see of 
Sherbourn ; but Bishop Tanner’s editor, 
on the authority of William of Malmes¬ 
bury, who expressly says that Wiltshire 
only was separated from Sherbourn, is 
of opinion that the bishops of the new 
see had no other seat than Ramsbury, 
until Bishop Herman removed to Old 
Sarum. It is certain that the bishops 
of Salisbury held the manor of Sonning 
at the time of the conquest, and that 
the manor house was, for some centuries 
afterwards, their occasional residence. 
Isabel, queen of Richard II., lived at 
Sonning during the interval between 
the deposition and death of that unfor¬ 
tunate king. Leland describes the 
mansion, in his time, as a “fair old house 
of stone,” and that there was “ thereby 
a fair parke.” There are various monu¬ 


ments in the parish church, and be¬ 
tween the body of the chancel and its 
north aisle, a beautiful pointed arch, 
elaborately enriched with figures of 
saints, &c. The parish is extensive, 
containing no less than 7000 acres, 
exclusive of that portion of it which is 
within the adjoining insulated district 
of Wiltshire. Woodley Lodge, once 
the property and residence of Lord Sid- 
mouth, is in this parish; also Early 
Court, which stands near the London 
and Bath Road. Holme Park stands 
near the bridge of Sonning, upon an 
eminence overlooking the Thames and 
the beautiful valley through which the 
river winds for some distance, and is 
lost among the remote hills. Holme 
Park is a handsome modern-looking 
edifice, square, and built of white brick. 
The principal front has a bold circular 
portico. 

Pursuing the main road, we reach 
Reading in the course of five miles. 


MAIDENHEAD TO R 

This is a route which is only likely to 
be adopted by the traveller who is 
making a pleasure-tour, for though it 
presents some of the most beautiful 
scenery of which England can boast, 
yet a considerable detour from the direct 
road must be made in order to enjoy it. 
The following directions will be found 
useful to the tourist, who we may as¬ 
sume is a pedestrian, or travelling on 
horseback, or in his own vehicle:— 


ADING, BY HENLEY. 

Immediately on entering Berkshire, 
by the bridge at Maidenhead, there is a 
road near the banks of the Thames 
leading to Cookham, past Taplow Mills, 
Ray Mills, and over Milbrook Common, 
which affords views of the most beauti¬ 
ful scenery of the hanging woods, above 
which stand Cliefden and Hedsor, 
Taplow House, Taplow, Taplow Lodge, 
on the Buckinghamshire side of the 
river. The scenery of the Thames, 






76 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


from Maidenhead to Wargrave, is of 
the highest order of beauty; but a 
description of it more properly belongs 
to Buckinghamshire. 

Cookham, which gives its name to a 
hundred, is about three miles north of 
Maidenhead. It had formerly a mar¬ 
ket, and has still a fair, and a statute 
for hiring servants. Maidenhead is 
partly in this parish. The church con¬ 
tains several monuments of the families 
of the old gentry who have been settled 
here at various periods. Near the 
chancel is a brass plate to the memory 
of a former vicar of the parish, who is 
styled, “Pylgrim of Jerusalem, and 
canon professed of the house of our 
lady at Gisborough, in Yorkshire.” 
A bridge has been erected this year 
over the Thames by which a commu¬ 
nication is effected between Maidenhead, 
and High Wycombe, 

Passing over Cookham Common we 
reach Bisham, four miles and a half 
north-west of Maidenhead, and about 
one mile from Great Marlow, in Buck¬ 
inghamshire. A monastery was founded 
here in 1357, and endowed with 300/. 
per annum by William Montacute, 
Earl of Salisbury. Many noble person¬ 
ages were interred in the conventual 
church,—among whom w T ere William, 
Earl of Salisbury, the son of the founder, 
who distinguished himself at Poictiers; 
Thomas, Earl of Salisbury, who died,at 
the siege of Orleans in 1428; Richard 
Neville, Earl of Salisbury and Warwick, 
beheaded at York in 1460 for his at¬ 
tachment to the Lancasterian cause; 
Richard Neville, the great Earl of 


Warwick and Salisbury, and his bro¬ 
ther John, Marquess of Mountague, 
both of whom fell at the battle of Barnet 
in 1470 ; and Edward Plantagenet, 
Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke of 
Clarence, beheaded in 1499 for attempt¬ 
ing to escape from confinement. Such 
were the stormy lives and eventful 
histories of the aristocracy of England 
at this period! The splendid monu¬ 
ments to the memory of these men, 
which Bisham once contained were 
destroyed after the dissolution of the 
abbey. The prior of Bisham at its sur¬ 
render was made a bishop, and after¬ 
wards married and had five daughters, 
each of whom married a bishop. A 
pointed door-way, which forms the 
entrance to the mansion of Bisham 
Abbey, is the only existing remains of 
the old conventual building. In an 
aisle or chapel adjoining the parish 
church is a richly ornamented window, 
and a monument with effigies in armour 
of two of the Hoby family. This chapel 
was built by one of the learned daugh¬ 
ters of Sir Anthony Coke, wife of Sir 
Thomas Hoby, and the epitaph in Latin 
verse on her husband’s monument was 
written by her. 

Hurley, about five miles from Maid¬ 
enhead, and about four from Henley on 
Thames, not far from the Oxford road, 
is pleasantly situated in a valley, shel¬ 
tered on both sides of the river by 
gently-descending and well-wooded 
hills. It has an ancient and retired 
look, the houses are old and built partly 
of timber, with deep porches and seats, 
covered with mosses and vines, con- 



MAIDENHEAD TO READING, BY HENLEY. 


77 


trasting somewhat singularly with the 
smart inn and new toll-house at the 
entrance of the village. The church, 
which stands near the manor house is 
old and plain. The view from the hills 
above the village of Hurley is very fine. 

Hurley House, associated with our 
recollections of a great event in English 
history—the Revolution of 1688 —was 
pulled down a few years ago. It was 
situated in one of the most picturesque 
windings of the Thames, the grounds 
extending to the banks of the river. 
The site of Hurley House was a Bene¬ 
dictine monastery, founded in the reign 
of William the Conqueror, and dedicated 
to the Virgin ; hence the house, which 
was built about the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, was termed Lady 
Place. The manor came into the 
possession of the Lovelace family in 
the sixteenth century; and the house 
was built by Sir Richard Lovelace, who 
was “knighted in the wars,” as his 
epitaph declared, and who was reputed 
to have acquired a large sum of money 
on a sea expedition with Sir Francis 
Drake. His son was made Baron 
Lovelace of Hurley. 

The house was a most perplexing laby¬ 
rinth of darkrooms running one into the 
other, —and of “ passages that lead to 
nothing.” The hall, which was of large 
size and lofty dimensions, had two en¬ 
trances, one from the garden, and one 
from the grounds leading to the Thames. 
The ceiling was covered with plaster 
mouldings of elegant flowing scroll-work, 
intermixed with fruit and flowers ; and 
the walls were also ornamented with 


groups of musical instruments, books, 
&c., inclosed in borders, all of plaster. 
On one side of this spacious apartment 
was a staircase leading to a balcony 
running round it, from which were doors 
to rooms on the second story. The 
rooms were panelled, as was also the 
hall or saloon ; the panels being painted 
with landscapes, or else carved in arches 
and lozenges. The landscapes were 
about fifty in number, painted in a 
broad and free manner : they have been 
attributed to Salvator Rosa, but we 
believe they were the work of Antonio 
Tempesta. The lower rooms, with their 
large bay windows and painted and 
carved panellings, must have been, 
especially when filled with the massive 
antique furniture of the period, ex¬ 
tremely rich, light, and imposing. But 
the upper rooms, which were not in¬ 
tended for show, presented a great 
contrast; they exhibited little either 
of elegance or comfort. The gutters 
from the roof ran through them, by 
which the external air was freely 
admitted at all seasons, as well as a 
copious share of the rain. 

In the reign of James II., John, Lord 
Lovelace, “kept house” at Lady Place 
with a profuse hospitality that after¬ 
wards ate like a canker into his fortune. 
But it was under cover of this hos¬ 
pitality that the meetings of the noble¬ 
men of England were held, which 
resulted in the Revolution of 1688 . 
The vault under the hall of the house 
was the burial vault of the monastery 
which formerly occupied the site: an 
| inscription on the floor records that 



78 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


“Three bodies in Benedictine habits 
were found under this pavement.” The 
ceiling of the vault is about six feet and 
a half high. The following inscription 
records the chief facts connected with 
the history of the vault :— 

" Dust and Ashes, 

•• Mortality and Vicissitude to all. 

* “ Be it remember’d that the Monastery 
of Lady Place (of which this Vault was the 
Burial Cavern) was founded at the time of 
the great Norman Revolution; by which 
Revolution the whole state of England was 
changed. 

Hi motus animorum; atque lisec certamiua tanta 
Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescunt. 

‘ “ Be it also remembered, that in this 
place six hundred years afterwards the Re¬ 
volution of 1688 was begun. This House 
was then in the Possession of the Family of 
Lord Lovelace ; by whom private meetings 
of the Nobility were Assembled in the 
Vault; and it is said that several consulta¬ 
tions for calling in the Prince of Orange 
were held in this Recess. On which account 
this Vault was Visited by that powerful 
Prince after he had ascended the Throne.” 

[The inscription also farther recorded 
the visits of General Paoli in 1780 and 
of George III. and his queen in 1785.] 
Lord Lovelace was rewarded by King 
William with the post of Captain of the 
Band of Gentlemen Pensioners. He 
fitted up Lady Place with great splen¬ 
dour, and lived in a style which involved 
him so much in debt, that the greater 
portion of his estate was sold under a 
decree of the Court of Chancery. The 
house then passed through various 
hands. In 1837 its dilapidation con¬ 
demned it to be pulled down. 

Leaving Hurley we proceed to Pros¬ 
per Hill and Rose Hill, from which 


the road passes direct to Henley, but 
the ‘tourist who wishes to follow more 
closely the course of the Thames will 
proceed by Culham Court, Aston, and 
Remenham. There is also a road from 
Henley to Reading which partly follows 
the windings of the Thames on the 
Buckinghamshire side of the river. 

Remenham is about a mile and a 
half from Henley. Park Place, once 
the seat of Marshal Conway, is in the 
parish, a short distance south of the 
road leading to Henley. The mansion 
is situated at an elevation of about three 
hundred feet above the Thames on a 
range of hills which bounds the river 
for several miles. The grounds com¬ 
mand a view of the town of Henley, 
an extensive and varied prospect of the 
high lands in Oxfordshire; and the 
Thames is one of the chief features of 
the landscape. In the park is a Druidical 
temple brought from Jersey, and pre¬ 
sented to Marshal Conway, governor of 
the island, by whom it was removed to 
its present situation. There is a sub¬ 
terranean passage, nearly one hundred 
and seventy yards long leading to a 
valley planted with cypress, at the end 
of which is a ruin representing a Roman 
amphitheatre. Across the road leading 
from Wargrave to Henley is a large 
arch constructed partly of blocks of 
material taken entire from the ruins of 
Reading Abbey. 

Wargrave, on the banks of the 
Thames, about three and a half miles 
from Henley, and about midway between 
Maidenhead and Reading, gives its 
name to the hundred. It had formerly 



[Vaults at Lady Place.] 












































































































































































































































































































































































80 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


a market, granted in 1218 to the bishop 
of Winchester. Queen Emma, mother 
of Edward the Confessor, gave the 
manor and hundred to the see of Win¬ 
chester. Bear Place, an elegant modern 
mansion, is finely situated on an elevated 
spot surrounded by woodlands. The 
parish church contains a monument to 
the memory of Mr. Thomas Day, author 
of ‘ Sandford and Merton,’ who died in 
1789 at the age of 41. The lines on 
his monument were written by himself 


for another person, and were placed 
here by his widow. Derham, author 
of the “ Physico-Tlieology,” was vicar of 
the parish from 1682 to 1689. 

Leaving Wargrave the road recedes 
from the river, and at a distance of 
about a mile and a half from the vil¬ 
lage, in a direction nearly due south, 
joins the London and Bath road at 
Twyford. The route from Twyford to 
Reading is given in the preceding part 
of this chapter. 




81 


CHAPTER Y. 

READING. 


Between Maidenhead and Reading 
there is an intermediate station on the 
line of the railway at Twyford. Read¬ 
ing is also on the great Bath road, whose 
course from its entrance into the county 
to Reading is described in chapter iv. 
As the county town of Berkshire, and 
one to which the facility of access, es¬ 
pecially from London, has been so much 
increased since the opening of the 
Great Western Railway, we have de¬ 
voted a considerable space to an account 
of its history, antiquities, and present 
state. 

Reading is pleasantly situated on the 
Kennett, chiefly on the left bank, about 
a mile or a] mile and a half before it 
flows into the Thames. Reading lies 
thirty-eight miles in a straight line west 
by south of St. Paul’s, London; or 
thirty-eight miles (measured from 
Hyde Park Corner) by the road through 
Windsor Great Park; or thirty-nine 
through Maidenhead, the latter being 
the great line of road from London to 
Bath and Bristol. The Great Western 
Railway, which passes through the 
northern suburbs of Reading, brings it 
in reality more than one-half nearer to 
London than these distances. Letters 
are conveyed from London twice a-day 


by the railway, and the communication 
by post is as rapid as between the extre¬ 
mities of the metropolis. 

Reading is not only the county town, 
but also a parliamentary as well as a 
municipal borough, and returns two 
members. The town is wholly within 
the limits of the borough, which consists 
of the entire parish of St. Lawrence, and 
parts of the parishes of St. Mary and St. 
Giles. The borough boundaries are well 
known, and remain unaltered from a 
very early period : the limits of the 
parliamentary borough are identical with 
those of the municipal, and comprise 
about 2080 English statute acres. The 
origin of the name is generally ascribed 
to rhyd , a ford, and ing, a meadow^ 
The earliest historical notice of Reading 
occurs in the ninth century. Ivor, a 
Danish freebooter, landed at South¬ 
ampton in the year 868 with a con¬ 
siderable army; and marching into 
the interior of the country, fixed his 
head quarters at Reading. About two 
years after this, Ivor was followed by 
Hinguar and Hubba, who brought with 
them a still more numerous army. 
These chieftains, after defeating and 
killing the king of the East Angles, 
marched to Reading. There they dug 

G 








[Reading from Caversham Hill.] 




































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































READING. 


83 


a trench for the better defence of the 
town, running from north to south 
between the Thames and the Kennett. 
In the battle of Englefield, which imme¬ 
diately succeeded, the Danes were 
beaten, and pursued to Reading by 
Ethelred and his brother Alfred, after¬ 
wards so distinguished as the Great. 
Various other engagements took place 
in the neighbourhood, in one of which 
Earl Ethelwclph, the English leader, 
was slain, during a rally from the town. 
Ultimately a treaty was concluded, by 
which the Danes agreed to quit Read¬ 
ing. They then marched to London. 
In 1006 Sweyn, King of Denmark, 
marched through Hampshire, and, 
coming to Reading, reduced it to ashes 
with the nunnery erected by Elfrida in 
expiation of the murder of her step-son 
Edward the Martyr. In 1153 the 
castle, which had been in Stephen’s pos¬ 
session, was given up to Henry Duke of 
Normandy, afterwards King Henry II., 
pursuant to an agreement concluded 
before the walls of Wallingford. At 
this time it appears the edifice was 
utterly demolished. No traces of it 
now remain except in the name Castle 
Street. In 1163 Henry presided at a 
single combat fought in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Reading, probably on an island 
to the east of Caversham Bridge, be¬ 
tween Henry de Essex, the King’s 
standard-bearer, and Robert de Mont- 
fort. The latter accused his antagonist 
of cowardly or treacherously abandoning 
the royal banner upon a false report of 
the king's death or, capture by the 
Welsh. Essex was vanquished and 


left for dead on the field ; but he re¬ 
covered, and having forfeited his pos¬ 
sessions to the crown, was permitted to 
assume the religious habit and become 
a member of Reading Abbey. In 
1185 Henry met Heraclius, Patriarch 
of Jerusalem, here, who presented to 
him the keys of the holy sepulchre, and 
the royal banner of Jerusalem; and 
endeavoured, though without success, 
to induce him to set forth on an expedi¬ 
tion against the Saracens. Richard I. 
held a parliament at Reading in 1191. 
In 1209 a great number of professors 
and students of Oxford came to reside 
here, on account of the unjust treatment 
they considered themselves to have 
received from the King (John) in 
consequence of the death of a woman 
killed by a priest. Three years after¬ 
wards, the Pope’s Legate held a coun¬ 
cil here with the view of effecting a re¬ 
conciliation between King John and 
the exiled barons. In the following year 
John himself came to Reading to meet 
the legate and the barons, and held a 
parliament. Henry III. held parlia¬ 
ments here in 1241 and in 1263. In 1314 
Edward II. visited Reading, and an 
inhabitant afterwards petitioned parlia¬ 
ment for the value of twenty-three 
quarters of oats and some litter, which 
had been seized without payment for 
the king’s use : the application was 
successful. A grand tournament was 
held here by Edward III. in 1346. At 
Reading Richard II. and his barons 
were reconciled in 1389, through the 
instrumentality of John of Gaunt. In 
the year 1440, 1451, and 1452, parlia- 
g 2 




84 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


ments were held here; the last by 
adjournment from Westminter, on ac¬ 
count of the plague. In 1464 the 
marriage of Edward IV. with Lady 
Grey was first made public at Reading, 
when the queen appeared in state at 
the Abbey, led by the Earls of Glouces¬ 
ter and Warwick. The parliament 
was again adjourned from Westminster 
on account of the plague in 1466. From 
the same cause, in 1625, the first year 
of the reign of Charles I., Michaelmas 
term was held here. The High Court of 
Chancery, the Courts of King’s Bench, 
Common Pleas, of Wards and Liveries, 
and of Requests, were held in the great 
hall and other parts of the Abbey ; the 
Court of Exchequer in the Town Hall, 
and the Court of Augmentation in the 
school-house. In 1642 we find Reading 
a parliamentary garrison, described as 
generally well fortified, but wanting ord¬ 
nance. The governor was Harry Marten, 
who, on the approach of the king,’quitted 
the town with the garrison. The Earl of 
Essex and Sir Thomas Skippon, on the 
part of the parliament, besieged Reading 
in the following year, when various 
entrenchments were thrown up. A 
fort at Caversham Hill, constructed by 
the king’s party, was taken, and from 
thence the town was battered with consi¬ 
derable effect. The steeple of St. Giles’s 
Church appears to have been then 
knocked down, the garrison having 
placed ordnance in the building. Sir 
Thomas Aston, the governor, being 
wounded, the command devolved on 
Colonel Fielding, who capitulated on the 
27th of April. At the very same time 


the king was within a day or two's march, 
coming to relieve him. Lord Clarendon 
relieves Colonel Fielding from any im¬ 
putations of cowardice]or treachery; the 
surrender, however, ruined his military 
reputation : he was never afterwards in¬ 
trusted with any command. Sir Samuel 
Luke, the Hudibras of Butler, was in the 
parliamentary army on this occasion, and 
kept a record of the siege. After the 
first battle of Newbury, Reading again 
came into possession of the king, and 
Sir Jacob Astley was made governor, 
who afterwards for his conduct in this 
position was made Baron Astley of Read¬ 
ing. In 1644 Charles demolished the 
works, and left the town to be taken pos¬ 
session of by the Earl of Essex, the par¬ 
liamentary general. In January, 1646, 
Reading was garrisoned for the parlia¬ 
ment, and martial law declared ; and in 
the succeeding year the town became 
the head-quarters of the parliament 
commander-in-chief, Fairfax. During 
these alternations of party triumph, the 
inhabitants were almost ruined by the 
heavy contributions to which they were 
subjected. The last historical circum¬ 
stance worthy of note is connected 
with the revolution of 1688. The troops 
of King James and those of the Prince 
of Orange met here, and a trifling 
skirmish ensued, in which fell the only 
officer who perished in that expedition. 
At the same time, from a mere trifling 
incident that occurred in Reading, arose 
that widely-spread rumour that the 
Irish troops in the service of James 
were committing the most dreadful 
excesses upon the inhabitants, and 




READING. 


85 


which was called the “ Irish Cry.” For 
a century the anniversary of this skir¬ 
mish, dignified as the Reading fight, was 
commemorated by the ringing of bells. 

Among the antiquities of Reading, 
the abbey of course forms the chief 
object of interest. This was one of the 
richest religious houses in the kingdom, 
and of the class called Mitred Abbeys, 
or, in other words, whose abbots sat in 
parliament: the abbot of Reading took 
precedency in the House of Peers next 
after the abbots of St. Alban’s and Glas¬ 
tonbury. It was founded by Henry I. 
in 1121, who endowed it for the support 
of 200 monks of the Benedictine order, 
and bestowed on it various important 
privileges. Among them were those of 
conferring knighthood, coining money, 
holding fairs, trying and punishing cri¬ 
minals, &c. The founder also gave a 
relic, assumed to be the hand of the 
Apostle James. The abbey provided 
for the poor, and necessary entertain¬ 
ment for travellers. William of Malmes¬ 
bury, who, however, died about 1142, 
says there was always more spent by the 
monks on strangers than on themselves. 
Henry authorised 'the abbey to coin in 
London, and keep there a resident mas¬ 
ter or moneyer. The privilege of coin¬ 
ing was entirely withdrawn in the eighth 
year of Edward II.’s reign (1315), but 
partially restored in the twelfth of Ed¬ 
ward III. (1339). At the dissolution, 
in 1539, the abbot, Hugh Cook, alias 
Hugh Faringdon, whom Hall in his 
Chronicle calls a stubborn monk, and 
absolutely without learning, was, with 
two of his monks, hanged, drawn, and 


quartered for denying the king’s su¬ 
premacy—a charge that seems but ill 
supported by the recorded testimony of 
the king’s visitor, Dr. Loudon. The clear 
revenues at this period were valued at 
1908/., which Lysons, writing in 1806, 
considers equivalent to at least 20,000/. 
The commissioners also found consider¬ 
able quantities of plate, jewels, and 
other valuable articles. Henry VIII. 
and his successors for some time kept 
a portion of the abbey reserved for their 
occasional residence. But after the 
reign of James I. it does not appear to 
have been long occupied as a royal resi¬ 
dence. The buildings generally began 
to decay, and immense quantities of the 
materials were carried off. Some of 
these were used in the construction of 
the hospital for poor knights at Wind¬ 
sor, and in the rebuilding of St. Mary’s- 
church. Many large masses were used 
by General Conway in the construction 
of that singular bridge at Park-place, 
near Henley, which is thrown across 
the high road. The abbey appears to 
have been surrounded by a wall with 
four arched and battlemented gateways, 
the ruins of some of which are still 
visible. There was also an inner court, 
with a gateway, which'still exists. The 
north front has a beautiful Saxon arch, 
with an obtuse point at the top, rising 
from three clustered pillars without 
capitals. Among the chief remains is 
a portion of the great hall now used as 
a school-room. The dimensions of the 
hall were eighty feet by forty. There 
were three large entrance doors for the 
cloisters, and five noble windows in the 




86 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


circular end of the room. Here it is 
supposed were held the numerous parlia¬ 
ments before mentioned. Many frag* 
ments of the massive walls still remain 
dispersed about. They have lost their 
outward casings, and consequently the 
flint and gravel beneath, of which they 
are constructed, is visible. The dimen¬ 
sions of the abbey church are thus 
given by Sir Henry Englefield, who 
carefully examined the ruins in the 
latter part of the last century:—Eastern 
chapel, 102 feet by 52; choir, 98 by 34; 
breadth of side aisles, 19 feet; transept, 
196 by 56; nave, presumed to have 
been 215 feet in length; and the ex¬ 
treme length of the church, 420 feet. 
What remained of the church up to the 
period of the Civil War was then further 
dilapidated ; the ruins of the north 
transept in particular are then recorded 
to have been blown up. The abbey 
mills are still remaining in excellent 
preservation, and exhibit in different 
parts arches evidently coeval with the 
abbey itself. Over the mill-race is a 
large Norman arch with a zig-zag 
moulding. The founder, Henry I., and 
his second wife Adeliza, were buried in 
the abbey church, and probably Ma¬ 
tilda, his first queen. The Empress 
Maude, William, eldest son of Henry 
II., and other illustrious persons were 
also buried here. In 1815 a fragment 
of a stone sarcophagus in two pieces 
was found about the centre of the choir, 
supposed, with some probability, to have 
been Henry’s coffin. 

The Franciscan friars settled here in 
1233. Their convent stood near the 


west end of Friar Street. On its disso¬ 
lution, the warden petitioned that he 
and his brethren, being aged men, 
might be permitted to occupy their 
lodgings during life; but even that hum¬ 
ble request was denied. The church 
was formerly used as a town-hall, and 
it now serves as a bridewell. The walls 
remain entire : the nave is divided from 
the two narrow aisles by clustered 
columns and pointed arches. The west 
window is handsome, and in excellent 
preservation. According to Leland, 
there was also on the north side of 
Castle Street “a fair house of Grey 
Friars.” This, it is thought, was on 
the site now occupied by the Metho¬ 
dist chapel. There were three hospitals 
in Reading: St. Mary Magdalen’s, 
which, it is supposed, stood near the 
great gate of the abbey : St. Lawrence’s, 
which stood near the church, founded 
about 1190, for the constant support of 
thirteen poor persons, and occasional 
reception of thirteen other poor sick 
persons, particularly lepers, belonging 
to Reading, and of strangers who passed 
through Reading ; and lastly, St. John’s, 
intended for certain poor women serving 
God night and day, and praying for the 
king’s estate, and the souls of the found¬ 
ers and benefactors. They had a fair 
chapel for divine service. There were 
ultimately brethren also attached to this 
hospital. The revenues were entirely 
alienated by Abbot Thorne, and applied 
to the use of the abbey. It was then, 
as we shall hereafter see, converted into 
a grammar-school. St. John’s hospital 
is now used as the town-hall. Near the 




[Ruins of Beading Abbey as they appeared in 1721.] 

































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































88 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


west end of Friar Street stood St. Ed¬ 
mund’s chapel, built and endowed by a 
burgess in 1284. It was desecrated in 
1479, the chapel having been previously 
converted into a barn. This was used in 
the Civil War as a fort. It was after¬ 
wards taken down, and rebuilt at Battle 
Farm, but has been since destroyed by 
fire. 

Reading is a borough by prescription. 
The corporation was originally a guild 
merchant, existing, it is said, as early as 
the reign of Edward the Confessor, by 
virtue of a charter supposed to have been 
then obtained. The guild was composed 
of five companies of freemen, enjoying 
extensive privileges. The earliest 
known charter, which is not, however, in 
existence, was granted by Henry III. in 
1253. The members of the guild were 
called burgesses as early as 1254, when 
the right of the abbot of Reading to 
elect the master was affirmed. In 1351 
this master was called the mayor. Va¬ 
rious succeeding charters were granted 
by Henry VII., Henry VIII., Queen 
Elizabeth, and Charles I. By the char¬ 
ter granted by this last monarch the 
town was governed up to the period of 
the recent municipal changes. These 
charters are all in excellent preservation; 
that of Henry VII. is splendidly illumi¬ 
nated, and the initial letter contains his 
portrait. The guild was dissolved prior 
to the operation of the charter of Charles 
I. The corporation now consists of a 
mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen bur¬ 
gesses. The borough is divided into 
three wards. The borough courts con¬ 
sist of a court of quarter sessions, a 


court of record limited to cases not 
exceeding 10£. in amount, and a court 
leet holden by the corporation as lords 
of the manor of Reading. A petty 
sessions for the division is held every 
Saturday. The gaol in the Friary 
church is small and confined; and for 
some years an arrangement has been 
made with the authorities of the county 
gaol, in pursuance of which, only debtors 
and persons under confinement pre¬ 
vious to commitment are lodged in the 
borough gaol. The police force has 
been greatly improved within the last 
ten years. The Lent or spring assizes 
are held at Reading, the summer at 
Abingdon. The epiphany quarter ses¬ 
sions for the county, and occasionally 
the Michaelmas sessions, are held at 
Reading. Reading has returned mem¬ 
bers to parliament from the earliest 
period of parliamentary history. The 
right of election in 1700 was adjudged 
to be in the freemen not receiving alms, 
and in the inhabitants paying scot and 
lot; in 1 716 it was determined to be in 
the latter only. 

The towm is in the form of an equi¬ 
lateral triangle, consisting of four prin¬ 
cipal streets, crossed by various other 
smaller ones, and is divided in the centre 
into various small islands (connected by 
bridges) by the branches of the Ken- 
nett. The streets are for the most part 
spacious and well built, and present no 
inconsiderable number of handsome- 
looking houses, as well as some im¬ 
portant public buildings. Here and 
there may still be seen erections of the 
fifteenth century, with their charac- 



READIKG. 


89 


teristic high gables. There are several 
excellent wharfs on the Kennett; and 
altogether Reading presents ample 
evidence of the prosperity it has now 
for some years enjoyed, and which 
appears to be still increasing. The 
population has increased from 10,788 in 
1811 to 15,595 in 1831. 

Within the space formerly enclosed 
by the outer walls of the abbey is a 
public place called the Forbery. This is 
hounded on the north by along terrace- 
walk, affording a delightful view of the 
Oxford hills and the fertile valley be¬ 
tween through which runs the Thames. 
Near the southern extremity of the 
town is a stratum of oyster-shells. 

The ancient parish churches are St. 
Mary’s, St. Lawrence’s and St. Giles’s. 
St. Mary’s church stands, according to 
tradition, on the site of the nunnery of 
Elfrida before mentioned. It is said 
to have been the earliest Christian 
fabric erected in this part after the 
conversion of the inhabitants. It was 
formerly called the Minster, hence the 
name of an adjoining street. In 1547 
the old (and probably the Saxon) church 
was pulled down, and the present one 
built on the site, partly from the ruins 
of the Abbey. It is a plain massive 
structure in the later style of English 
architecture, with a beautiful square 
tower of tesselated Hint and stone. The 
living is a vicarage, endowed with the 
great tithes, in the patronage of the 
crown. The net income, on an average 
of three years ending in 1831, was 661/. 
The church-lands produce an income of 
about 127/., which is applied to the 


general purposes of church-rates. St. 
Lawrence’s church was rebuilt, or ex¬ 
tensively repaired, in 1434. Among 
the relics belonging to it in 1517 was a 
gridiron of silver-gilt, containing within 
a relic professed to be a bone of St. 
Lawrence. The living is a vicarage 
without tithes or glebe. Prior to the 
Reformation the vicar was. provided with 
lodging,board,clothing, ahorse, &c., by 
the Abbot. The average net income for 
1831 and the two preceding years was 
276/. The patronage rests with St. 
John’s College, Oxford. During Eliza¬ 
beth's occasional residence at the Abbey, 
she used to attend St. Lawrence's, where 
a canopied and tapestried pew was pro¬ 
vided for her, and on her visits the aisles 
were strewed with rushes and flowers. 
St. Giles’s church is also an endowed 
vicarage, the average net income for the 
years 1829-30-31, was 522/. The church 
was completely repaired in 1829, with 
the surplus of certain property charged 
with annuities. St. John’s church is a 
new edifice, erected under the authority 
of the Commissioners for building new 
churches. There is a Chapel of Ease 
attached to the vicarage of St. Mary's, 
erected a few years ago by the Rev. G. 
Hulme; and the Castle-street chapel, 
which some time ago was considered to 
belong to the Countess of Huntingdon’s 
connexion, was, through the instrumen¬ 
tality of the trustees, consecrated for the 
service of the Church of England. All 
the principal Dissenting bodies have 
chapels at Reading. 

Of the other public building we may 
first mention the Oracle, a notable ex- 



90 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


ample of poor-law fallacies. In 1624, 
John Kendrick gave funds to the corpo¬ 
ration to purchase a strong house of 
brick to set the poor at work in, on the 
woollen manufacture. This was to be 
furnished, and for its maintenance a 
large sum was set apart as a common 
stock. The institution was for some 
time conducted with success; but, in the 
end, the manufacture generally in Read¬ 
ing was ruined by this very institution 
intended for its support; for the manu¬ 
facturers, living rent free, and enjoying 
the loan of tools, and frequently even of 
money, undersold all competitors ; but 
as these disappeared, it appears to have 
been found that the trade gradually 
disappeared too. The Oracle comprises 
a very extensive range of workshops and 
other buildings, surrounding a large 
court-yard, which is entered by an 
ancient gateway. Many of the rooms 
are now shut up, containing old looms, 
broken machinery, &c. A few persons 
occupy, rent free, some rooms for the 
weaving of sail-cloth, sacking, &c. A 
large room of the building is used as 
a school-room. The town-hall, form¬ 
ing the upper portion of St. John’s 
Hospital, was rebuilt in 1785, and now 
forms a very noble room 100 feet long, 
32 broad, and 24 high. Adjoining to 
it is a spacious council chamber, with 
portraits of Queen Elizabeth, Arch¬ 
bishop Laud, and other benefactors or 
natives of the town. The County 
Hospital was erected by subscription, 
and is supported by voluntary con¬ 
tributions. The County Gaol was 
built about 1793, on the site of the 


Abbey: it contains a commodious house 
for the keeper, a room for the recep¬ 
tion of the magistrates, a neat chapel, 
and an infirmary, numerous day-rooms, 
and airy yards for prisoners of each 
sex. There are also cells for the re¬ 
fractory, and for the purposes of solitary 
confinement. St. Giles’s National 
School, erected in 1835, is a handsome 
structure in the Gothic style. Among 
the other public buildings maybe men¬ 
tioned the New Market-house, the 
Theatre, and the Baths. 

Reading is lighted with gas by two 
companies, their several acts being 
obtained in 1825 and in 1836. A joint- 
stock company was formed in 1694, for 
the distribution of water from the 
Kennett by machinery. About the 
beginning of the present century the 
arrangements were greatly improved, 
when a lofty brick-tower was erected on 
the banks of the Kennett, and a large 
reservoir constructed at the upper end 
of Castle-street. A great number of 
wells have been opened in different 
parts of the town, which it is thought 
are supplied from the Thames rather 
than the Kennett, although the latter 
is so near. In 1785 an act was obtained 
for paving the town. 

The clothing manufacture is said to 
have been introduced into Reading 
as early as the time of Edward I. Many 
traditions are preserved concerning a 
rich clothier of that period, one Thomas 
Cole. Except in connexion with the 
Oracle, the manufacture has been lost 
since the period of the Civil War. The 
trade of Reading has, however, for some 



READING. 


91 


time been in a flourishingstate. This 
may in a great measure be owing to 
the increased facilities for transport 
the town enjoys. The Kennett is 
now navigable for barges of 120 tons 
from the Thames through Reading to 
Newbury, where it joins the Kennett 
and Avon Canal, which is continued to 
Bath. A new wharf and dock were 
constructed in 1828. The principal ar¬ 
ticles of exportation are flour, malt, corn, 
seeds, oak-bark, hoops, wool, beer, and 
cheese. Of the flour it is said that 
upwards of 20,000 sacks are sent an¬ 
nually to the metropolis. There are 
iron foundries, some large breweries, 
several yards for boat-building, &c. 
The fairs of Reading occur on the 2nd 
of February, 1st of May, 25th of July, 
and 21st of September. The July fair 
for horses and the September for cheese 
are much noted. The quantity of cheese 
sold on these occasions is immense. In 
1836 no less than 700 tons were pitched 
for sale, the value of whieh would be 
about 40,000/. The market-days are 
Wednesday and Saturday ; the first 
chiefly for provisions ; the last, for corn, 
is of considerable importance. The 
corn-market is held in the market¬ 
place, a convenient area, occupied on 
three sides by shops, and on the fourth 
by the church of St. Lawrence. The 
shops are kept in repair by the corpo¬ 
ration, who take a toll of one pint 
from each sack of corn sold in the 
market. 

Leland states that Henry VIT., coming 
to Reading in 1486, noticed the decayed 
hospital of St. John, and inquired as to 


its history of Abbot Thorn, who had 
alienated its revenues. On receiving 
the information sought, he desired it 
might again be converted to pious uses ; 
when the abbot desired it might be 
made a grammar-school. The king 
gave an endowment of 10/.; and other 
donations appear to have been made to 
it, all traces of which are lost. By the 
charter of Elizabeth, the 10/. was charged 
upon the corporation, and that charge 
still remains the only endowment, with 
the exception of property given by Arch¬ 
bishop Laud, now amounting to about 
40/. per annum, for the increase of the 
master’s salary. His appointment be¬ 
longs to the corporation. Two scholar¬ 
ships at St. John’s College, Oxford, 
were annexed to the school by Sir 
Thomas White. The selection of can¬ 
didates rests with the corporation; it has 
been the practice of late years to confine 
the advantages of this foundation to 
natives of Reading. The school is open 
to all boys, without regard to their birth¬ 
place; but none are admitted free. The 
school occupied for many years the 
lower part of St. John’s Hospital, but 
the late Dr. Valpy, the distinguished 
scholar, built a new room at his own 
expense. A house for the master was 
purchased by subscription in 1764, 
which was enlarged and improved by 
Dr. Valpy. During that gentleman’s 
government, plays were triennially per¬ 
formed by the scholars. The Blue-coat 
School was founded by R. Aldworth, 
Esq., in 1646, for the support, education, 
and apprenticeship of twenty boys. 
Various subsequent benefactions have 



92 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


raised the number to forty-seven ; and 
the whole income of the school exceeds 
1000/. per annum. Three of the boys 
are selected by the landholders of the 
parish of Sonning, the others by the 
corporation. The school-house was 
built by the corporation in 1723. The 
master has a salary of 50/. a-year, 6/. 
for a servant, and board and residence 
for himself, wife, and servant. In St. 
Mary’s parish there is a small school, 
called the Foundation School, endowed 
with property producing 11/. per annum, 
by Mr. J. Neale in 1714. Twenty-five 
very young children are here taught to 
read. The corporation lend a school¬ 
room rent-free. The girl’s Green-school 
was established in 1779 for the support, 
education, and apprenticeship of the 
daughters of decayed resident trades¬ 
men, or orphans unprovided for. It 
has property producing 132/. per an¬ 
num, which is increased by annual 
subscriptions. The mistress’s salary is 
63/. There are twenty-one girls on the 
foundation. A premium of a guinea is 
given for good conduct during apprentice¬ 
ship. Injl810, Edward Simeon, Esq., 
founded and endowed a Sunday-school 
with 2500/., the interest from which 
is expended in the instruction of poor 
children, and in assisting to clothe the 
scholars every alternate year. There is 
also a school of industry, in which thirty- 
four girls are taught reading and plain- 
work, and are clothed. The other schools 
are the National, Lancasterian, and 
British and Foreign Schools, Sunday- 
schools in connexion with the establish¬ 
ment, and the various bodies of Dis¬ 


senters ; and there are several good 
boarding and day-schools. 

There are two societies in Reading for 
the encouragement of literature and 
science—the Literary and Philosophical 
Institutions. The former, which was 
established about 1808, possesses a li¬ 
brary, reading-room, and residence for 
the librarian, and the latter besides its 
library, a museum ; and public lectures 
are given at certain periods. In 1840 an 
Antiquarian Society was formed at 
Reading called the Berkshire Ashmo- 
lean Society. A Mechanics’ Institution 
was opened a few years ago, but did not 
succeed. Among the other societies of 
Reading maybe mentioned the Philan¬ 
thropic and the Loan Societies, each cal¬ 
culated, though in different ways, for the 
assistance of the poor. There is also a 
Horticultural Society. 

The charities of Reading are so 
numerous that it is impossible to give 
even the briefest outline of them indi¬ 
vidually ; some of the most interesting 
or important alone can be noticed. John 
Blagrave, in 1611, directed his heirs to 
pay 10/. yearly to the corporation for 
the purpose of giving twenty nobles 
(6/. 13s. 4d.) to one poor maiden servant 
about to be married, and who had been 
not less than five years in one place. 
The remainder of the money was to be 
appropriated to the paying for a sermon 
on the occasion, for ringers to ring the 
lucky maiden home, for gifts to poor 
scholars accompanying the procession, 
&c. Three girls are selected who throw 
dice, and the one who gets the highest 
number receives the prize. Archbishop 



READING. 


93 


Laud established a similar charity, which 
every third year apportions twelve poor 
maidens. In 1825 the amount to each 
amounted to 25/. The Rev. Mr. Bon- 
dry and James Richards, in 1775, esta¬ 
blished a like charity to that of John 
Blagrave’s for one poor maiden, which 
gives to the winner about 30/. Lastly, 
from the gifts of Martin Annesley, Esq., 
the two unsuccessful candidates at 
Blagrave’s, and those at Bondry and 
Richard’s charities, receive severally 4/. 
and 3/. each, according as they stood 
nearest in the throw to the winner. 
These gambling charities can scarcely 
be recommended for imitation. Among 
the other charities are two Loan Funds. 
One of 150/., lent in sums of 50/., is 
part of a charity founded by John 
Kendrick; and another, divided into 
eleven loans of 50/. each, is part of the 
great charity founded by Sir Thomas 
White in Bristol, and twenty-four other 
cities or towns. These loans are lent 
without interest, on bond with three 
sureties, for ten years. They do 
not appear to be generally all at once 
in use. The different almshouses of 
Reading support about forty aged men 
and women. The other charities are 
generally for the apprenticeship of poor 
boys, gifts to the poor at stated inter¬ 
vals, and for other purposes of a like 
nature. 

The property of the corporation in 
1835 produced an income of 1137/. 
Part of it has been in the possession of 
the corporation from time immemorial, 
but the most considerable portion was 
the gift of Elizabeth. It was charged 


with the building and repairing of nine¬ 
teen bridges in the neighbourhood of 
Reading; and in 1830 no less than 
2500/., were expended in this manner. 
The expenditure in 1831-2 amounted 
to 910/., the principal items of which 
were salaries of officers and police, 
payments connected with the public 
buildings of the town—the Town Hall, 
Compter, Bridewell, Market Place, 
Town bridges, &c. The poor-rates are 
large in proportion to the population. 
There are many small tenements, and 
the Commissioners of Corporation In¬ 
quiry were informed that in 1833 there 
were nearly 2000 houses in the borough 
bearing no portion of the local burdens, 
and which if fairly assessed would have 
produced about 3500/., to the poor- 
rates. The number of houses in the 
borough in 1831, including 226 unoc¬ 
cupied, was 3307 ; of these 1050 were 
rated at 10/. and upwards, on a rental 
of 30,800/.; 1200 houses were assessed 
to the poor-rates, and 2100 were 
excused on account of the alleged 
inability of the occupiers : the assessed 
taxes produced 8660/. The Reading 
union, under the Poor Law Amendment 
Act, was formed on the 1st of August, 
1835, and comprises the borough and 
the adjoining hamlet of Whitley and 
Southcote tithing. For the three years 
preceding, the average expenditure for 
the relief and maintenance of the poor 
amounted to 8179/., while for the year 
ending 25th March, 1838, the amount 
was only 4549/. 

Robert of Reading, one of the first 
monks, is said to have been the only 




94 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


Englishman of his time, with the 
exception of Adelard of Bath, who was 
master of the Arabic language. Read¬ 
ing has not given birth to many eminent 
men. Archbishop Laud, born here in 
1573, and beheaded 1644, was the son 
of a clothier in Broad-street. The 
names of the following are entitled to 
notice :—John Blagrave, a mathemati¬ 


cian ; Joseph Blagrave, a writer on 
astrology; Sir John Barnard, an aider- 
man of London ; James Merrick, who 
translated the Psalms; William Baker, 
a printer of some learning in the last 
century ; Sir Constantine Phipps, Lord 
Chancellor of Ireland ; and Dr. Plianuel 
Bacon, a dramatic writer. 




95 


CHAPTER VI. 

READING TO WALLINGFORD. 


This may be pursued as a continuation 
of the tour from Maidenhead to Henley 
and Reading, as the road also lies near 
the Thames. In the vicinity of this 
route we have the Great Western Rail¬ 
way, with the stations at Pangbourn, 
Goring in Oxfordshire, which county 
the line enters for a short distance, and, 
lastly, the Moulsford station, in Berk¬ 
shire, which is the one nearest Walling¬ 
ford. 

From Reading to Wallingford the 
distance, by the road, is fifteen miles. 
Passing through St. Mary’s parish, 
Reading, the distance to Purley, the 
first village on the road, is about five 
miles. Purley Hall stands in a park by 
the road side. The mansion is in the in¬ 
elegant style which prevailed at the 
commencement of the last century, and 
was built by Mr. Law, who was famous 
for his connexion with the South Sea 
scheme : Warren Hastings resided here 
during his memorable , trial. Purley 
House is an elegant mansion from a 
design by Wyatt. 

Pangbourn is situated on the direct 
road, six miles from Reading, and near 
the banks of the Thames. A fine stream 
called the Pang, famous for its trout, 


passes through the parish, to which it 
has doubtless given name. Bere Court 
in this parish was a summer residence 
of the Abbots of Reading, to whom it 
was given by Bingham, Bishop of Salis¬ 
bury, in 1230. In the window of the 
hall are still preserved the arms of 
Hugh Faringdon, the last abbot. Bere 
Court is agreeably situated in a retired 
spot among hills, about a mile distant 
from the village. From a tower on the 
neighbouring height is a delightful 
view of the rich scenery with which 
this part of the county abounds. Since 
the Reformation Bere Court has passed 
with the manor of Pangbourn. Sir 
John Davis was the possessor of both 
in 1613, a person of some note during 
the reign of Elizabeth. He was patron¬ 
ised by the earl of Essex, and employed 
in some expeditions in which he gained 
considerable reputation. When Essex 
fell. Sir John was also so deeply impli¬ 
cated as to be sentenced to death; he 
was however ultimately pardoned. Cam¬ 
den speaks of him as an excellent ma¬ 
thematician ; he was also deeply versed 
in the mysteries of astrology. His 
monument is in Pangbourn church. 
The river Thames here widens consider- 



96 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


ably, and is spanned by a bridge built 
about 1792. * 

There is a road from Pangbourn to 
the London and Bath road, which it 
joins about five miles west of Reading; 
also a road which joins the one from 
Abingdon to Newbury, about nine miles 
from the latter place. On the first of 
these roads is Tidmarsh, which has an 
interesting parish church with a hexa¬ 
gonal chancel. Sulham is about a 
mile east of Tidmarsh, and six miles 
from Reading. 

Returning to the main road, we reach 
Basilden, about seven and a half miles 
from Reading, midway between Reading 
and Wallingford. It had once a weekly 
market, granted by Edward II. in 1309, 
and also a fair held at the festival of 
St. Barnabas. There were two churches 
at Basilden at the period of the Norman 
survey, and Lysons conjectures that one 
of them was at Upper Basilden, about 
two miles from the present parish 
church. The mansion in Basilden Park 
is one of the finest seats in the county. 
It has been recently purchased by 
James Morison, [Esq. The park ex¬ 
tends to a considerable distance on 
one side of the road, while on the 
other is seen the mazy windings of the 
river Thames, which here divides the 
county from Oxfordshire. The mansion 
is approached from the lodge gates by 
a fine drive which leads to a large lawn 
skirted by hills covered with beech and 
other trees. The estate of Basilden, in 
Reading hundred, formerly belonged to 
the family of Yane, and was purchased 
about the year 1766 of the Countess of 


Sandwich and Madame de Salis, sisters 
to Charles, second Viscount Vane, by 
Francis Sykes, Esq., who erected the 
present mansion from the design of 
John Carr, of York. It is constructed 
entirely of stone, and consists of a large 
central building and two wings. The 
corridor in the centre of the building 
is in good taste, rising from a rustic 
basement, after the Italian style, and 
ornamented with four Ionic columns, 
supporting a pediment with a bold and 
prominent cornice. The wings are used 
as domestic offices, but the stables and 
coach-houses are at some distance from 
the house, and concealed by a planta¬ 
tion. The principal apartments are 
spacious and elegant; and in particular 
the Grand Saloon, which was painted 
by T. De Bruyn in imitation of bas- 
relief. 

Ashampstead is three and a half 
miles on the left of the main road, in a 
well wooded and pleasant part of the 
country. The manor of Hartridge in 
this parish is believed to have been 
the estate formerly held by the tenure 
of keeping a goss-hawk for the king. 
The parochial chapel is annexed to the 
vicarage of Basilden. 

Aldworth is two and a half miles on 
the left of the direct road before reach¬ 
ing Streatly, in a very secluded situation. 
The manor of Aldworth belonged to The- 
odoric, the goldsmith, at the period when 
the Domesday survey was made; and 
to the De la Beche family in the thir¬ 
teenth and fourteenth centuries. Seve¬ 
ral ancient monuments in the parish 
church are supposed to be memorials 



READING TO WALLINGFORD. 


97 


of this family; but of the old castle, 
which was their seat, not a vestige re- 
mains, and its site is called Beche 
Farm. 

Returning to the main road at a 
distance of nine miles from Reading, 
and six from Wallingford, we come to 
Streatley, on the banks of the Thames, 
across which there is here a ferry to 
Whitchurch, in Oxfordshire. There 
was once a convent of the Dominican 
order in the village. Streatley is situa¬ 
ted on the Roman road called Ickleton 
Street, or Ickleton Way, which, coming 
from Bedfordshire crossed the Thames 
by a ford. Another ancient road, called 
the Ridge Way, supposed to be Roman, 
enters the county from Wiltshire, and 
passes near Uffington, Wantage, East 
Hendred, Upton, and Blewberry to 
Streatley. Blewberry is situated upon 
this road, five miles from Streatley. 
Blewberry church contains some ancient 
monuments of the family of Latton, 
who had a seat in the hamlet of Upton, 
in this parish, from the fourteenth to 
the sixteenth century. There are 
chapels of ease at Upton, and also at 
Aston Upthorpe, another hamlet of 
Blewberry. On Blewberry Plain are 
several tumuli. Blovvburton Hill is a 
considerable eminence between Blew¬ 
berry and Aston Tirrel on the right of 
the road. A little to the west of the 
former place is the source of a stream 
called Padsey Brook, on which there 
are two or three mills, and which falls 
into the Thames at Wallingford. The 
other places situated on the Port Way 
are noticed elsewhere. 


Moulsford, not quite three miles 
from Wallingford, on the main road, is 
said by Lysons to be a hamlet of Cholsey 
parish, but in the Population Returns, 
and in the Ordnance Survey, it is 
noticed as a parish of itself. The 
church contains several monuments, 
one to William Gilford, Esq., who died 
in 1694, and was the first president of 
Fort St. George, in Africa. One of the 
stations of the Great Western Railway 
is at Moulsford. 

The road next passes through Cholsey 
Field past Cholsey Mill, and within two 
miles of the village of Cholsey, which 
is situated about three miles south-west 
of Wallingford. At Cholsey, King 
Ethelred founded a monastery in 986 as 
an atonement for the murder of his 
brother Edward the Martyr ; and it is 
believed to have been destroyed by the 
Danes, when they burnt Reading and 
committed other ravages in the county. 
Henry I. granted the manor to Reading 
Abbey, and the abbots had a seat here. 
The church once belonged to the abbey 
of Mount St. Michael, in Normandy. 

Before entering Wallingford we pass 
through the small village of Winter- 
brooke in Cholsey parish, about a 
quarter of a mile from Wallingford. It 
contains about 100 inhabitants, and is 
connected with Wallingford by scat¬ 
tered houses. 

Wallingford, a parliamentary bo¬ 
rough, returning one member, is a place 
of great antiquity, situated on the bank 
of the Thames, forty-six miles from 
London : it comprises four parishes. 
Lysons and other antiquarians suppose 

H 






[Wallingford and View on tlie Thames.] 































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































READING TO WALLINGFORD. 


99 


that there was a town here in the time 
of the Romans, the name of which is 
lost, and they ascribe the origin of the 
present name, either to an ancient 
British word guallen or the Latin val¬ 
lum, each signifying a fort or fortified 
position, and the ford over the river, 
thus making Guallen Ford or Vallum 
Ford. Wallingford was destroyed by 
the Danes in 1006 , when they ravaged 
the county ; but it appears to have been 
rebuilt in 1013, as it was then visited 
by Sweyn, king of Denmark. In the 
reign of Edward the Confessor it was a 
royal borough, containing 276 houses, 
paying a tax to the king. On the 
Norman invasion the Conqueror was 
invited to Wallingford by Wigod, a 
Saxon lord, at whose castle the Arch¬ 
bishop Stigand and many others ap¬ 
peared and submitted to William. The 
nuptials of Wigod’s daughter with one 
of the Norman generals were celebrated 
at the same time. In 1067 the king 
directed a strong castle to be built at 
Wallingford, as a means of overawing 
the country. In the course of a century 
the castle, town, and honour of Wal¬ 
lingford, which had successively de¬ 
scended to Wigod’s daughter and 
grand daughter came into the posses¬ 
sion of the crown. Henry II. assem¬ 
bled a general council of the bishops 
and barons at the castle, who swore 
allegiance to him, and at a later period 
King John met the discontented barons 
of the north at the same place. . During 
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries 
the castle was the scene of several inte¬ 
resting events. At one period it was 


held by the Earl of Chester; next by 
the Earl of Cornwall; and Edward II. 
gave it to Piers Gaveston. Thus it 
passed from one great feudal lord to 
another, reverting occasionally to the 
crown at the pleasure of the sovereign. 
By the time that this stormy period was 
passing away, its strength had begun 
to decay; and there were no longer 
the same powerful motives for keeping 
it in repair. Leland, in the beginning 
of the sixteenth century, describes it 
as “ sore yn ruine.’’ Camden, who 
wrote somewhat later, says that “its 
size and magnificence used to amaze 
me when I came hither, a lad, from 
Oxford.” Still, up to the period of the 
Civil War, it was considered one of the 
most important fortresses in the king’s 
possession; the royal army marched 
here after the second battle of Newbury 
in 1644; and it did not fall into the 
hands of the parliamentary forces until 
two years afterwards. In 1652 orders 
were issued for the demolition of the 
castle, the inhabitants of the county 
having also petitioned for this object. 
So thoroughly was this work performed 
that scarcely a vestige of its former state 
and grandeur now remains. 

An ancient college, consisting of a 
dean and prebendaries, existed at one 
period within the walls of the castle, 
founded, it is believed, by Edmund, 
Earl of Cornwall, who died in 1300. 
After the surrender of the endowment 
in the reign of Henry VIII., it was 
purchased by the dean and canons of 
Christ Church, Oxford, who let the 
clerk’s house, described by Leland as 
h 2 



100 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


“ a fair lodging of tymbre,” on condition 
of the tenants quitting the whole of it, 
except one chamber, at eight days’ 
notice, in case of Oxford being visited 
by the plague or sickness. There was 
another ecclesiastical establishment at 
Wallingford, a convent of Benedictine 
monks, founded by one of the abbots of 
St. Albans in the reign of William the 
Conqueror; and at one period there 
were eleven churches in the borough. 

A hospital for poor men and women 
existed in the thirteenth century. In 
1687, Mr. William Aungear and his 
sister founded an alms-house for six 
poor widows ; and the original small 
endowment has been increased by sub¬ 
sequent bequests. 

It appears, from a document quoted 
by Lysons in the ‘ History of Berkshire,’ 
that in the thirteenth century a native 
of Wallingford, guilty of any offence 
which rendered him liable to capital 
punishment, might have the option 
either of having his eyes put out, or 
being otherwise mutilated in his per¬ 
son, instead of being put to death. 
James I. granted the town its first 
charter of incorporation. Under the 
Municipal Corporations Reform Act 
the corporation consists of four aldermen 
and twelve councillors, and the corpo¬ 
rate body is styled the “ mayor, bur¬ 
gesses, and commonalty of the borough 
of Wallingford.” The borough has 
enjoyed its parliamentary privileges 
since the reign of Edward I., and before 
the passing of the Reform Act the right 
of voting was vested by ancient charter 
in the inhabitants paying scot and lot. 


The number of electors was about 300, 
but not more than 212 had polled at 
any election during the preceding thirty 
years. The Reform Act took away one 
of the members from Wallingford, and 
extended the boundaries of the parlia¬ 
mentary borough by taking in parishes 
and parts of parishes adjacent to the 
old boundaries, so that it now comprises 
treble the population of the old borough. 

At the period of the Norman survey, 
the market, which had been held from 
time immemorial, was on the Saturday-; 
afterwards the day was changed to Sun¬ 
day ; and in 1218 to Thursday. Tues¬ 
day and Friday are now the market- 
days ; the first being of very little con¬ 
sequence, and the second a small corn 
market; and there are four annual fairs. 
The chief trade of the place is malting. 
A great plague in the reign of Edward 
III., (1327-1377) and the building of 
Culham and Burford bridges, near 
Abingdon, in 1415, by which the great 
road into Gloucestershire and South 
Wales was diverted from Wallingford, 
is believed to have proved highly in¬ 
jurious at the time to the prosperity of 
the town. Leland speaks of it as being 
much decayed; and in the reign of 
Mary (1553-1558) it is described in an 
inquisition, quoted by Lysons, as being 
then “in greater desolation than ever it 
was, every manner of way.” Its present 
condition and appearance testify that it 
has recovered this state of depression. 
Soon after the middle of the last century 
the building of a bridge across the 
Thames at Shillingford opened the 
I communication between Reading and 




HEADING TO WALLINGFORD. 


101 


Oxford by Wallingford; and a new 
turnpike road was made from Walling¬ 
ford through the vale of White Horse 
to Wantage. In 1795 an act was ob¬ 
tained for paving and lighting the town. 
In 1801 the population amounted only 
to 1744, but in 1831 it had increased to 
2467. The town principally consists of 
two streets, and the boundary commis¬ 
sioners who visited it in 1831 state that 
“the general aspect of the place would 
indicate that it is in good condition. 
For its size it contains a considerable 
number of neat private dwellings ; a few 
are of a superior character. The town is 
lighted with gas. In general terms 
Wallingford may be described as a neat 
country town respectably inhabited.” 
In the old borough 212 out of 485 
houses are of the annual value of 10/. 
and upwards. The Great Western 
Railway approaches within three miles 
of the town. The present bridge 
across the Thames was built in 1809. 
The former bridge was considered 
the oldest on the river, and consisted 
of nineteen arches and four draw¬ 
bridges, the whole 300 yards in length ; 
but the structure was so much inj ured 
by a great flood that it was obliged to 
be taken down. 


Wallingford now contains three 
churches : St. Mary’s, a handsome 
edifice with an embattled tower and 
pinnacles, on the top of which is an 
armed knight on horseback, said to 
represent King Stephen; St. Leonard’s, 
a very ancient edifice ; and St. Peter’s, 
built in 1769, to which a spire was 
afterwards added, by subscription, in 
1777. There are places of worship for 
the Independents, the Society of Friends, 
the Baptists, and Wesleyan Methodists. 

In 1659 Mr. Walter Bigg, an aider- 
man of London, endowed a free-school 
with the sum of 10/. per annum; and 
in 1672 the Merchant Tailors’ Company 
of London gave 32/. for the erection of a 
free-school, and 2/. 10$. a-year for the 
master. In 1833 there were eleven 
daily schools in the borough, the average 
attendance at which was 320 ; and 
several Sunday schools, attended by 
about 340 children. 

Richard de Wallingford, abbot of St. 
Albans, eminent in his time for his 
mechanical genius ; and John de Wal¬ 
lingford, the writer of a well-known 
‘ Chronicle,’ are believed to have been 
natives of Wallingford. 





102 


CHAPTER VII. 

READING TO NEWBURY AND HUNGERFORD. 


The Great Western Railway, after 
passing Reading, makes a great bend 
to the north, leaving the south-western 
parts of Berkshire without the advan¬ 
tages which it affords to other parts of 
the county. The tourist must therefore 
have recourse to the old modes of travel¬ 
ling, and between Reading, Newbury 
and Hungerford, which route we now 
proceed to describe, he will find all the 
resources which an ancient and active 
traffic creates for the accommodation of 
travellers. Newbury is twelve miles 
from the Pangbourn station on the 
Great Western Railway, and fourteen 
miles from the Basingstoke station on 
the South Western Railway. 

Coley, at the western extremity of 
Reading, is an ancient manor which 
belonged for many generations to the 
"Vachells; and Coley House, their 
ancient seat, was the residence of 
Charles I. for a few days, during the 
Civil War. 

The road passes by a place called 
World’s End, and next Horn castle, 
after which, about three quarters of 
a mile from the main road, on the 
left, is Tilehurst, the parish church of 
which contains a costly monument to 
the memory of Sir Peter Vanlore, a 
rich merchant, who died in 1627, and 


his lady. Lloyd, Bishop of Worcester, 
who died in 1717, was a native of this 
place. Calcot House is in the parish. 
Between Tilehurst and the road is an 
eminence called Cockney Hill; and to 
the west, half a mile from the main 
road, is Langley Hill. About two 
miles from Calcot Green is Theale, a 
chapelry in this parish of Tilehurst: 
Theale gives its name to the hundred. 
The country is here well wooded, and 
on the left the Kennet takes its course 
through rich meadows. There is an 
episcopal chapel at Theale erected at 
the expense of Mrs. Sophia Sheppard. 
Pursuing our course along the main 
road we reach, within less than a mile 
from the village, a road to the Thames 
at Pangbourn, which passes through 
Tidmarsh, the parish church of which is 
noticeable as having an enriched Nor¬ 
man doorway, and for its peculiar form ; 
the chancel terminating in the half of an 
hexagon. Burghfield parish church 
contains an ancient monument with the 
figure of a crusader in wood. The 
bridge over the river Loddon is a very 
ancient structure. 

Englefield House, the seat of 
Richard Benyon de Beauvoir, Esq., is 
situated about six miles west of Reading, 
and forms a conspicuous object to the 



READING TO NEWBURY AND HUNGERFORD. 


103 


north of the Bath Road. This manor was 
at a very early period possessed by the 
ancient family of Englefield, by whom 
it was held till the reign of Elizabeth, 
when it became forfeited to the crown, 
owing to the conviction of Sir J. Engle¬ 
field, on a charge of aiding the plot to 
rescue Mary Queen of Scots from the 
hands of her rival. The act of attainder 
being passed, a grant of the manors was 
made to Sir Francis Walsingham, 
from whose family it passed, by mar¬ 
riage, into that of John, Marquess of 
Winchester, who built the present man¬ 
sion after the demolition of Basing 
House in Wiltshire, which he had so 
nobly defended against the parlia¬ 
mentary forces in the time of Charles I. 
Upon the death of the marquess, his 
only surviving son, Lord Francis Pau- 
let, took possession of the Englefield 
estate, and bequeathed it on his demise 
to an only daughter Anne, who mar¬ 
ried the Reverend Nathan Wrighte, 
a younger son of the Lord Keeper 
Wrighte. Upon the death of Nathan 
Wrighte, Esq., in 1789, Englefield 
devolved to the late Richard Benyon, 
Esq., son of Governor Benyon, by the 
widow of Powlett Wrighte, Esq., elder 
brother of the last-mentioned Nathan. 
The present proprietor of this seat, 
grandson of the governor, in 1822, 
took the additional name of De Beau¬ 
voir. The house is finely situated on 
a rising ground, with a large and thick 
wood at the back, “ like a mantle about 
a coat of arms.” In the north aisle of 
the chancel of the parish church are 
several monuments of the Englefield 


family, and on the south aisle is a 
monument to the memory of John, 
Marquis of Winchester, the defender of 
Basing House, with an epitaph from the 
pen of Dry den. 

Jack’s Booth, a well-known place on 
the London and Bath Road, is nearly 
six miles and a half from Reading. 
On the left, at the distance of about one 
mile is— 

SlILHAMPSTEAD BANNISTER, the 
manor of which originally belonged to 
the family of Bannister. The river Ken- 
net runs through the parish. Sul- 
hampstead Abbots, or Abbas, also 
on the left, nearly two miles from the 
main road, is mentioned in old writings 
under the name of Suthampstead and 
Chilhampsted. The abbey of Reading 
had two manors in the parish. There 
is a small endowed school. Proceeding 
towards Newbury— 

Ufton, or Ufton Nervets, is on the 
left, nearly 2 miles from the road. 
Here resided Arabella, wife of Francis 
Perkins, Esq., the lady celebrated by 
Pope in the Rape of the Lock, under 
the name of Belinda, and to whom, 
under her maiden name of Fermor, the 
poem was dedicated. There were two 
manors here at the period of the Con¬ 
quest, one of which was called Ufton 
Nervets and the other Ufton Grey shale ; 
and these were most probably the names 
of the two parishes of Ufton, which 
were consolidated in 1442. A few years 
ago the remains of the ancient church 
of Ufton Greyshale were visible. 

Stratfield Mortimer, is 3 miles 
S.S.E.of Upton, and near the verge of 



104 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


the county. The manor was held by the 
family of Mortimer at the Conquest, and 
remained in their hands until the death 
of the Earl of March in 1425. After¬ 
wards it came into the possession of the 
crown, and Queen Elizabeth granted it 
to Lord Hunsdon in 1564. In one of 
the church windows is a portrait of Wil¬ 
liam of Wykeham. The heath is of 
considerable extent and stretches into 
Hampshire. It was enclosed in 1802, 
a reserve of one hundred acres being 
made to the poor for fuel, and the en¬ 
closed lands being subject to tithe. 

Returning to the main road we reach 
the Hare-and-Hounds, along established 
inn, a mile and a quarter from which is— 

Padworth. The manor was held from 
an early period by the family of Cour- 
dray, by the terms of providing a sailor 
to manage the ropes of the Queen’s 
vessel whenever she visited Normandy. 
The church, which is very small, is a 
curious and interesting specimen of en¬ 
riched Norman architecture. 

Aldermaston, about one and a half 
miles from the main road, is situated S. of 
the Kennet, on the border of Hampshire, 
at a distance of above twelve miles S.W. 
from Reading. In the church, among 
other monuments, is one of alabaster, 
with the effigies of Sir George Forster, 
who died in 1526, and his wife Elizabeth. 
Round the sides, under gothic canopies, 
are small figures of their eleven sons, in 
armour, and eight daughters with the 
angular head dresses of the day. There 
are three fairs held here, May 6, July 7, 
and October 11. Aldermaston House, 
the residence of W. Congreve, Esq., was 


built in 1636, as appears by the inscrip¬ 
tion over the door-wav, and owing to the 
very excellent restorations made within 
a comparatively recent period, the man¬ 
sion appears nearly in its original state. 
The exterior is not remarkable, present¬ 
ing simply a plain brick elevation with 
a bold cornice, and with the doors 
adorned with twisted columns; but the 
interior presents some peculiarly interest¬ 
ing features, particularly the staircase, 
which is unique in the richness of its 
decorations. The diningroom is large 
and handsome, and the great drawing 
room above is very richly ornamented 
with carving and gilding : both rooms 
have ancient ponderous chimney-pieces, 
extending nearly to the ceilings. In 
most of the windows through the house 
are impaled the arms of the different 
possessors of the house. The rooms in 
the back look into an avenue in the 
park, which consists of nearly 800 acres 
of ground, and contains many venerable 
oaks, some of them above 20 feet round. 
Among the pictures are many family 
portraits, including one of the poet Con¬ 
greve, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, a land¬ 
scape by Gaspar Poussin, Queen Esther 
before Ahasuerus by Tintoretto, &c. 
There are entrenchments visible be¬ 
tween Aldermaston Heath and Strat- 
field Mortimer windmill. 

The main road next takes us to Midg- 
ham, a hamlet in the parish of Thatcham, 
which has a chapel of ease, built in 1714, 
by John Hillersdon, Esq., lord of the 
manor. Passing over a tract called 
Midgham Marsh we reach— 

Thatcham, the most extensive parish 





READING TO NEWBURY AND HUNGERFORD. 


105 


in the county, except Lambourn, con¬ 
taining, according to the Population 
Returns, 12,960 acres. From the 
Doomsday survey, and other authentic 
records, it appears to have been at 
one period a borough town, though 
there is no account of its ever having 
sent members to Parliament. Its mar¬ 
ket was first held on Tuesday, but in the 
reign of Henry III. the day was 
changed to Thursday : it has long been 
discontinued. The population at pre¬ 
sent amounts to 4000. The church con¬ 
tains some altar tombs, but the figures 
ori Judge Danvers’ monument have 
been removed since Ashmole’s time. 
Thatchamis on the river Kennet,andthe 
Kennet and Avon canal passes near it. 
The country is here agreeably diversified; 
the hills on the right are well wooded ; 
and on the left are the rich meadows 
on the Kennet. Thatcham is within 
three miles of Newbury, but before 
passing on to that place it may be con¬ 
venient to notice some of the neighbour¬ 
ing villages. 

Wasing, on the left, about one and a 
half miles from the road, is reached by a 
bridge over the Emborne, called Sher¬ 
bet bridge. Wasing house is a hand¬ 
some mansion, forming a conspicuous 
object from the main road. 

Brimpton is also on the left, and about 
the same distance from the road, passing 
by Brimpton mills. At the Conquest 
there was a church in each of the two 
manors which the parish comprised; 
and the Knights Templars, it is believed, 
had once a preceptory here. On Brimp¬ 
ton Common are several tumuli. 


Beenham is on the right, rather more 
than a mile from the road. Stackhouse, 
the Biblical writer, was vicar of this 
parish, and is buried in the chancel of 
the parish church, where there is a mo¬ 
nument to his memory. 

Woolhampton, also on the right, 
about three quarters of a mile from the 
road, is a pleasant and agreeable village, 
situated beneath the range of hills 
which bounds the road on that side. The 
Kennet glides through the meadows on 
the left. The manor once belonged to 
the Knights hospitallers. The church 
was built by Richard de Herclond, 
rector of the parish, whose burial place 
is on the north side of the chancel. 
The fount is ancient and rather curious. 
After passing Thatcham, Crookham 
House is one mile and three quarters to 
the left. The manor of Crookham, 
which is in the parish of Thatcham, was 
granted by Edward II., to Piers de 
Gaveston, who was beheaded at War¬ 
wick, in 1312. From Thatcham to New¬ 
bury the distance is about four miles. 

Newbury is seventeen miles from 
Reading, and fifty-six miles from Lon¬ 
don. It is on the river Kennet, at the 
point where the navigation of that river 
unites with the Kennet and Avon canal ; 
and had in 1831 a population of 5959, or, 
including Sandleford priory, which is in 
the parish, 5977. The town is ancient, 
being supposed to have originated from 
the Roman station Spinse, which name 
is still preserved in that of Speenham- 
land, a hamlet in the parish.of Speen, 
and contiguous to the town of Newbury. 
As early as the time of William the 



106 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


Conqueror it was called Newbir or New- 
byrig, and under that name was granted 
by the Conqueror to Ernulph de Hesdin. 
The principal streets are broad and well 
paved, and the town is lighted with gas. 
The church is a plain stone building, 
erected in the reign of Henry VII. 
There are several large malthouses and 
corn-mills, and there were formerly some 
woollen manufactories of importance; 
but they have long since disappeared. 

In the great council convened at 
Westminster in the reign of Edward 
III., concerning trade and manufactures, 
Newbury had three representatives. 

The average annual export of flour, 
malt, and unmanufactured grain is es¬ 
timated at 7000 tons. The corn-market 
is held on Thursday. The fairs are 
held five times in the year. That in 
October is a statute fair for hiring ser¬ 
vants. The Kennet and Avon Canal 
passes through the town. 

The police of the town was described 
in 1835 as insufficient, and considerable 
inconvenience was said to arise from the 
circumstance of the hamlet of Speen- 
hamland forming part of the town with¬ 
out being subject to the jurisdiction of 
the corporate magistrates. Newbury is 
a corporate town: the earliest charter of 
incorporation extant is that of 28 Eliza¬ 
beth ; the charter under which the cor¬ 
poration acted previously to the Muni¬ 
cipal Reform Act is dated in the first 
year of the reign of James II. The re¬ 
venue of the corporation, derived chiefly 
from the manor of Newbury, is only 
120/. Prior to 1818 the corporation 
derived a considerable income from a toll 


upon all grain which passed through the 
town; but this was contested in the above 
year, and has not since been paid. 

The population of the parish in 1831 
was 5959. The parish is in the diocese 
of Salisbury. The living is a rectory, 
in the gift of the crown, and valued at 
455/. per annum. 

The ‘ corporation school,’ as it is called, 
originated from a bequest of Mr. John 
Kendrick, in 1624, of the sum of 4000/., 
to be applied by the corporation in fur¬ 
nishing employment to the poor of 
Newbury. Part of the revenue thence 
arising was first appropriated to the 
education and clothing of twenty boys in 
1706. The funds of this charity were 
augmented in 1715 by certain landed 
property named in the will of Mr. 
Richard Cowslade, the rental of which in 
1819 amounted to 97/., and the number 
of boys clothed and educated was in 
consequence increased to 28. In 1790 
there was a further bequest, by James 
Kimber, of funded property, yielding an 
annual dividend of 531/., which he di¬ 
rected should be employed in the educa¬ 
tion, clothing, and apprenticing of ten 
boys. The boys on these three founda¬ 
tions form what is called the Newbury 
Blue-coat School. They meet in a room 
adjoining the church, and are taught 
by the same master reading, writing, 
and arithmetic. It is . to be regretted 
that so little good should have been 
effected with such ample means. In 
1819, none of the boys had been appren¬ 
ticed ; the master, who had held his 
situation for many years, was complained 
of as being neglectful of his duties. The 




READING TO NEWBURY AND HUNGERFORD 


107 


annual expenditure on account of the 
charity had not exceeded 150/., and the 
appropriation of the residue could not 
he satisfactorily accounted for in conse¬ 
quence of the funds of the charity not 
having been kept distinct from those of 
the corporation. In the returns relating 
to schools and education made to parlia¬ 
ment, in pursuance of an address moved 
by the Earl of Kerry in 1833, no men¬ 
tion is made of this school. The other 
charities of Newbury, include several 
almshouses* 

In the reign of Edward I., Newbury 
returned two members to parliament 


At what period it was disfranchised 
does not appear. It is here that the 
Easter quarter-session for the county is 
held. The vicinity of Newbury is re¬ 
markable for the battles fought there in 
1643 and 1644, between Charles and the 
parliamentary forces. 

Newbury is little more than two miles 
from the verge of the county. There are 
three roads leading from it into Hamp¬ 
shire, one to Andover, another to Whit¬ 
church, and the third to Kingsclere. 
The second of these roads passes San- 
dleford Priory, which is a little to the 



[Newbury and Donning ton Castle. From an Old Print.] 


* See First Report of Charity Commissioners, p. 4l 



















108 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


left of the road, rather more than 1^ 
mile from Newbury, in which parish it is 
situated. An Augustin Priory was 
founded here by GeofFry, Earl of Perch, 
and his wife, about the year 1200. It 
was forsaken in the reign of Edward 
IV. (1461-1483) in consequence of a 
dispute between the prior and the Bishop 
of Salisbury, and it was then annexed 
by King Edward to the dean and 
chapter of Windsor. In the reign of 
James I. there was a suit in chancery 
about the tithes, and Sandleford, con¬ 
sisting of only the priory house, was 
declared a separate parish, and the 
owner was to have always a pew in 
Newbury church, and to pay 8/. per 
annum to the rector in lieu of tithes. 
The old chapel at Sandleford, which 
contained the monument of a crusader, 
supposed to be the founder, was, from 
this time, suffered to fall into decay, and 
no remains of it now exist. The man¬ 
sion called Sandleford Priory was built 
in the Gothic style for Mrs. Elizabeth 
Montague, widow of Edward Montague, 
grandson of the first Earl of Sandwich. 
There is a road from Newbury to Lam- 
bourn and the north-western parts of 
the county : this route is described at 
the end of the present chapter, p. 111. 

We now return to the London and 
Bath road, which it is necessary to ob¬ 
serve does not enter the town of New¬ 
bury, but passes through Speenham- 
land, which forms a sort of suburb of 
Newbury, though irnthe parish of Speen. 
Here was the Roman station Spinse, 
already mentioned, and it was also one 


of the principal scenes of action in the 
second battle of Newbury, fought in 
October, 1644, between the troops of 
Charles I. and those of the Parliament. 
The famous Bread Table issued in 1795, 
and called by paupers the Speenham- 
land Act of Parliament, originated at a 
meeting of the magistrates at the Peli¬ 
can Inn. Benham Place, in this parish, 
erected in 1775, was the seat of the 
Margrave and Margravine of Anspach. 
It is of the Ionic order, and is situated 
on the slope between the Bath road and 
the river Rennet. 

About one mile north-west from New¬ 
bury, on the main road, is Speen or 
Church Speen. A market was formerly 
held here by grant in 1218, to the Earl 
of Pembroke. In the church is an altar 
tomb with the effigy in armour of John 
Baptist de Castillon, a Piedmontese, to 
whom one of the two manors in the 
parish was granted in 1565. There is 
an effigy of his son’s wife, who died in 
1603, habited in a farthingale and flow¬ 
ered gown with a veil nearly to the feet. 
At the distance of one mile and a half 
to the left of the main road is Enborne, 
containing two ancient manors, in which 
the custom was formerly prevalent, that 
if the widow of a copyholder married 
again, or was guilty of incontinency, she 
forfeited the life interest in her late 
husband’s copyhold, which could only 
be recovered by her riding into court 
upon a black ram repeating some dog- 
grel rhymes. 

Passing New Inn, on the main road, 
Hampstead Marshal lies one mile to 
the left. In 1620 the manor came by 




READING TO NEWBURY AND HUNGERFORD. 


109 


purchase into the family of Craven, one 
of whom, whose father had been Lord 
Mayor of London, was created a baron 
in 1626, and after the Restoration an 
Earl. A house which had been built in 
the reign of Elizabeth for a previous 
possessor of the manor was pulled down, 
and a new mansion was completed jn 
1665, which was burnt down in 1718. 
It was from a design by Sir Balthazer 
Gerbier, who died on a visit here in 
1667, and is buried in the church. 

The Half-way House is the next place 
on the main road after New Inn. About 
a mile hence on the left, on the banks 
of the Kennet, is— 

Kentbury, anciently Cheuetberie 
and Kennetbury. It gives its name 
to the hundred of Kentbury Eagle, and 
had formerly a market and two fairs. 
One of the manors in this parish was 
given to the nuns of Ambresbury by 
Queen Elfrida on the first foundation of 
that establishment. The parish church 
contains monuments of ancient date 
of the old families who once had their 
seats in the neighbourhood. About two 
miles south of Kentbury Eagle is— 
West Woodhay, on the borders of 
Hampshire, seven miles south-west of 
Newbury, and about six south-east of 
Hungerford. It had formerly a market, 
granted in 1318. The old parish church 
was pulled down, and the brick building 
erected in its place contains nothing 
remarkable. Sir Benjamin Rudyerd, 
a poet and politician, in the time of the 
the Commonwealth, was buried in the 
old church, which contained a monu¬ 
ment to his memory. 


Elcot Park in the Parish of 
Kentbury, is close to the main road. 
About one mile and a half to the left 
is— 

AviNGTON,the parish church of which 
is an interesting specimen of Saxon 
architecture, containing a curious arch 
ornamented with grotesque heads and a 
zig-zag moulding. The fount is rudely 
sculptured with curious figures, and ap¬ 
pears to be very ancient. 

In the parish church of Inkpen, about 
three miles and a half S.S.E. of Kentbury, 
there is the monument of a crusader. 
This parish, with that of Shalbourn, 
which lies in the south-west corner of 
Berkshire, between Hampshire and 
Wiltshire, will render our notice of the 
parishes south of the road between 
Newbury and Hungerford complete. 
Jethro Tull introduced his practice of 
husbandry at Prosperous Farm in this 
parish. It:is curious that although drill¬ 
ing, which was first introduced by Tull, 
is practised pretty generally in the 
neighbourhood, it is not so now on Pros¬ 
perous Farm. There is a monument in 
Inkpen parish church of Francis Choke, 
who died in 1561, with his effigy in 
armour, and a beard of extraordinary 
length. Near Shalbourn is Wrang- 
dyke, said to be the boundary of the 
Saxon and West-Mercian kingdoms; 
and on Shalbourn Down, which is the 
eastern extremity of Salisbury Plain, 
there is a tumulus from which exten¬ 
sive views may be obtained. Lysons 
says that theVeetory of Shalbourn, which 
had before belonged to the priory of 
Sherbourn, constituted a part of the 



110 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


original endowment of St. George’s 
church, Windsor. 

Returning to the point of the main- 
road from which we diverged, and con¬ 
tinuing our journey westward, we soon 
reach— 

Hungerford, eight or nine miles 
from Newbury, above twenty-five from 
Reading, and sixty-four or sixty-five from 
London. It is upon the river Kennet 
(which, however, is not navigable), and 
upon the Kennet and Avon Canal. 
This townbore in ancient times the name 
of Ingleford Charmam or ( Charnam ) 
Street , which Mr. Gough (in his Ad¬ 
ditions to Camden) thinks may be a 
corruption of the Ford of the Angles on 
Herman Street, the ancient Roman road. 
But the Messrs. Lysons doubt whether 
the name Ingleford applied to more than 
the site of the manor of Hungerford- 
Ingleford, which is in the parish; and 
observe that the name Hungerford 
as now spelt, occurs in a record as 
ancient as a.d. 1204. The name Char¬ 
nam Street is still preserved by one of 
the avenues to the town, and by one of 
the tithings into which the parish is 
divided. The town consists chiefly of 
one long street, in the centre of which 
are the market house and shambles, 
with a room over them in which the 
town business is transacted. The 
church, which is in the western quar¬ 
ter of the town, was erected in 1814, 
in the place of an ancient structure, 
which appeared to have been built at 
different dates. In the former church 
were several memorials of the ancient 
family of the Hungerfords. The living 


is a vicarage, in the patronage of the 
dean and chapter of Windsor, and in 
the peculiar j urisdiction of the dean of 
Salisbury ; the net income of the vicar¬ 
age is stated at 429/. in the Ecclesias¬ 
tical Revenues' Report , 1835. Near 
the church is the free grammar-school. 
The Kennet is here divided into two 
streams, one of which passes through 
the town, the other close by it on the 
north side. The latter is crossed by a 
bridge at the entrance of the town from 
Newbury. There appears to be no 
manufacture in Hungerford of any 
importance. The market, which is 
on Wednesday, has been held from 
time immemorial, and is mentioned 
as an established market a.d. 1297. 
There are three fairs. The population 
of the whole parish, which contains 
4450 acres, and extends into Wilt¬ 
shire, was, in 1831, 2715 ; [but a con¬ 
siderable portion of this must be rural 
population. The town is governed by 
a constable chosen annually by the in¬ 
habitants : the other municipal officers 
are—bailiff, steward, town-clerk, twelve 
feoffees and burgesses, &c. Hunger¬ 
ford was the birth-place of Dr. Samuel 
Chandler, an eminent dissenting min¬ 
ister of the last century. There was 
formerly a hospital of St. John the 
Baptist in this town, but its site is not 
known. 

The manor of Hungerford was se¬ 
veral times in possession of the crown. 
In 1297 Edward I. granted it to the 
Earl of Lancaster, from whom it de¬ 
scended to John of Gaunt, who granted 
the inhabitants a fishery in the Kennet. 




READING TO NEWBURY AND HUNGERFORD. 


Ill 


An ancient horn is still preserved 
which he presented at the same time. 
There is another horn of brass of more 
recent date which is blown annually at 
the Manor Court, to summon the 
tenants. Edward VI. granted the 
manor to the Duke of Somerset, and 
on his attainder it was granted to the 
townsmen of Hungerford, with the ex¬ 
ception of the park. Thus, the chief 
constable is by virtue of his office lord 
of the manor. 

Hungerford Park is situated south¬ 
east of the town. At the close of the 
reign of Queen Elizabeth it was granted 
to the Essex family, and here the earl 
built a mansion which was pulled down 
above forty years ago, and the present 
house built on its site. 

Hungerford being partly in Wiltshire 
our route here terminates, being from 
Maidenhead to Hungerford thirty-eight 
miles. 

Newbury to Lambourne. 

Boxford, on the river Lambourne, is 
situated a little to the right of the road 
from Newbury to Lambourne, about 
4 miles from the former place. The 
manor belonged to the convent of Ab¬ 
ingdon. About one mile and a quarter 
from Boxford, on the left, is Wickham, 
a considerable hamlet of the parish of 
Welford, and which has a chapel of 
ease, and a parsonage house. 

Welford is on the main road about 
six miles from Newbury. The manor 
belonged to the Abbot and convent of 
Abingdon. Domesday Survey mentions 


two churches at this place, and one at 
Weston, a hamlet of Welford. The 
present parish church is very interest¬ 
ing. It has a circular tower at the 
west end, with small round-headed 
windows, betokening a Saxon origin, 
and upon the tower, an elegant Gothic 
spire, which was added in later times. 
The chancel has considerable remains 
of early Gothic interlaced arches, rest¬ 
ing on pillars. There are here three 
stone stalls, one higher than the others, 
separated by detached pillars, having 
plain bases, and capitals enriched with 
foliage. The ancient manor of Ben- 
ham Level in this parish was held by 
the service of keeping a pack of dogs 
at the king's expense for his use. Pass¬ 
ing Welford Park on the left, and 
through the hamlet of Weston before 
mentioned, we reach— 

Little or East Shefford. Here are 
the remains of an ancient manor-house, 
built by one of the Fettiplace family, 
who married an heiress of the house 
of Besils. The arms of the latter are 
preserved on the stone-work of some of 
the windows. The original house ap¬ 
pears to have been built about the time 
of Henry VIII. In the parish church 
there is, among other monuments, a 
handsome one, bearing a figure of an 
armed man, and a female, in alabaster, 
without inscriptions or arms. 

Great or West Shefford is also 
on the road a little nearer toLambourn. 
Here King Charles I. was quartered on 
the 19th of November, 1644. The 
church, like that of Welford, has a cir¬ 
cular tower at the west end, with small 




112 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


round-headed windows, to which an 
octangular story has been added at a 
later period. In it are some remains 
of stained glass. Near the northern 
door is a niche richly decorated with 
pinnacles. There is an ancient font 
with rich scrolls of foliage, in the en¬ 
riched Saxon style. About two miles 
farther on is— 

East Garston, in the hundred of 
Lambourn, and about ten miles from 
Newbury. The manor was held by the 
service of finding a knight clad in plate 
armour, to serve for forty days in the 
king’s army, at his own cost, whenever 
the king should be in the territory of 
Kidwelly in Wales, of which manor this 
was a member. Passing through East- 
bury, which is in the parish of Lambourn, 
we reach the hamlet of Bockhampton, 
also in Lambourn parish. At Bock¬ 
hampton a manor was held in grand 
serjeantry by the service of keeping a 
pack of harriers for the royal hunt at 
the king’s charge. William Hobbeshort 
held an estate in this place by the dis¬ 
graceful tenure of keeping six common 
women for the king, at the royal charge. 

Lambourn, or Chipping Lambourn, 
stands upon the little liver of that 
name which falls into the Kennet 
at Newbury. Lambourn is situated in 
a pleasant and open country, sixty-five 
miles from London, near the edge of the 
chalk downs, which cross the county. 
In the market-place is a tall plain pillar, 
with an ornamented capital, on an ascent 
of steps. The church is a handsome 
Gothic structure in the form of a cross, 
having two chantry chapels on the south 


side, in one of which is a tomb, on which 
is the effigy of the founder, who died 
1585, in copper, habited in a surcoat; 
and near the churchyard is a hospital 
for ten poor men, founded by some of 
the family of Isbury or Estbury. A 
new set of regulations was framed for 
this hospital in Queen Elizabeth’s 
reign, when certain usages, considered 
superstitious, were reformed. This 
saved the hospital from being dissolved. 
When Messrs. Ly sons wrote their history, 
they stated that the alms-men were ac¬ 
customed to attend divine service every 
morning in one of the chantry chapels, 
kneeling round the tomb of their 
founder's father. The living is a vicar¬ 
age in the gift of the dean and chapter 
of St. Paul's, London, of the average 
net income of 104^. The market is of 
very ancient date, but has much de¬ 
clined of late years: it is held on Fridays. 
There are three fairs. Horse races are 
annually held on Lambourn Downs. 
The parish is very extensive, containing 
14,880 acres, and comprising the whole 
of the hundred to which it gives its 
name: it is divided into one township 
(that of Chipping Lambourn) and three 
tithings. The population of the town¬ 
ship of Chipping Lambourn in 1831 
was 1166: that of the whole parish 
2386. At Upper Lambourn, an adja¬ 
cent hamlet, was formerly a free chapel, 
now destroyed. The manor of Lam¬ 
bourn was given by King Alfred to his 
wife Ealswith, and in the reign of 
Edward the Confessor, and at the period 
of the Domesday survey, it formed part 
of the royal demesnes. 




NEWBURY TO LAMBOURN. 


113 


In the chalk hills in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Lambourn is the source of the 
river of that name. Many barrows are 
found in the neighbourhood of Lam¬ 
bourn, and one of particular note, on 
these chalk hills north of Lambourn, 
covered irregularly with large stones • 
three of the stones have a fourth laid 
on them in the manner of the British 
cromlechs. Mr. Wise inclines to think 
this a Danish monument, while Messrs. 
Lysons would assign it a British origin. 
By the country people it is called 
“Wayland Smith,” and they have a 
tradition of an invisible smith residing 


here, who would shoe a traveller’s horse, 
if it was left here for a short time with 
a piece of money by way of payment. 
Scott has made use of this tradition in 
his novel of Kenilworth. Three miles 
north of Lambourn, on the Downs, 
is a field called Seven Barrow Field, 
but the barrows are more nume¬ 
rous than the name implies. There 
are also barrows at the eastern end of 
Lambourn Hatts Wood, three miles 
N. E. of Lambourn, and on the roads 
from Lambourn to Uffington, and to 
Kingston Lisle, in various parts. 



[Wayland Smith’s Cave.] 


I 









114 


CHAPTER VIII. 


WALLINGFORD 

The route between Wallingford and 
Wantage, and from Wantage to the 
western parts of the county, again brings 
the traveller in the vicinity of the line 
traversed by the Great Western Rail¬ 
way. Within three or four hours he 
may have left the crowded and busy 
haunts of the metropolis and be ramb¬ 
ling on the most elevated hills of 
Berkshire in a district rendered interest¬ 
ing from the remains which it pos¬ 
sesses of a remote antiquity,—for here 
are found monuments belonging suc¬ 
cessively to the ancient Britons and to 
the Romans, Saxons and Danes. The 
Steventon station affords the readiest 
access to this part of the country , and 
it is situated about one mile and a half 
north of the route described in the 
present chapter. When the traveller 
has proceeded this distance in a southern 
direction, he enters the Wallingford and 
Wantage road, at a point which is 
distant five miles from Wantage and 
eight from Wallingford in a direct line. 
The railway also intersects this line of 
road at East Hagbourne Marsh, three 
miles and a half nearer Wallingford, 
but there is no station. The Faringdon 
road station affords the most convenient 
access to the country west of Wantage. 


TO WANTAGE. 

On leaving Wallingford by the high 
road, and pursuing our route towards 
Wantage, a direct distance of thirteen 
miles, we first find, at the distance of 
about one mile and a half, the little vil¬ 
lage of Satwell, where there is a pa¬ 
rochial chapel dependent on the church 
of St. Leonard at Wallingford. At 
Brightwell, near Satwell, there was 
formerly a castle which in 1153 was de¬ 
livered up to the duke of Normandy, 
afterwards Henry II., by king Stephen, 
in pursuance of the agreement concluded 
at Wallingford. At this period the castle 
was probably demolished. Its site is not 
known with any certainty, but it is pro¬ 
bably that now occupied by the manor- 
farm which is surrounded by a moat. In 
the parish church there is a memorial 
to Thomas Goodwyn, author of a trea¬ 
tise on Roman and Jewish antiqui¬ 
ties. 

On the right of the road, about half a 
mile from Brightwell, is a barrow known 
by the name of Brightwell’s Barrow; 
and about a mile from thence is Sino- 
dun hill, in the parish of Witte nh am, 
near the banks of the Thames, where 
there is a large camp of an irregular 
form, surrounded by a deep trench. 
This is supposed to have been originally 




WALLINGFORD TO WANTAGE. 


115 


a British work, but afterwards occupied 
as a camp by the Romans, whose coins 
have been frequently found here. About 
a mile further we find— 

Little Wittenham. The manor an¬ 
ciently belonged to the Abbot and con¬ 
vent of Abingdon. In the parish church 
is a costly alabaster monument, bearing 
the effigies, in armour, of Sir W. Dunch, 
who married a daughter of Sir Henry 
Cromwell, (an aunt of the great Protec¬ 
tor,) and also the effigies of his lady. 
Edmund Dunch, their son, was made go¬ 
vernor of Wallingford Castle by Crom¬ 
well : he was also made a baronet, and 
eventually a peer; but he was deprived 
of this last mentioned dignity at the 
Restoration. 

Long, or East Wittenham, is about 
two miles from the road. This was at one 
period called Earls Wittenham, probably 
from the then possessors of the manor, 
the Earls of Warwick. 

Returning to the road, on the left, 
we find, about a mile off, North More- 
ton, in which parish the nuns of God- 
stow had an estate. South Moreton 
lies in the same direction,'about a mile 
further. 

At East Hagbourn, also on the left 
of the road, from which it is about one 
mile distant, the parliamentary army 
under the Earl of Essex was quartered 
on the 24th of May, 1644. The manor 
was given by Henry I. to the monastery of 
Cirencester, founded by him, whose ab¬ 
bot had probably an occasional residence 
here; and a park was mentioned in the 
grant of the manor after the Reforma¬ 
tion to Sir Francis Knolles. There 


was formerly a fair held here. The 
parish church is a handsome Gothic 
structure, the north aisle of which, it is 
recorded, was built by John Juke, who 
died in 1413. Near the church is a 
small taper spire, on an ascent of steps. 
At West Hagbourn, a hamlet of this 
parish, was formerly a chapel of ease. 
At Crosscot, or Costcot, another ham¬ 
let also of East Hagbourne, is a small 
cross ; and there is another by the road¬ 
side between Crosscot and Hagbourn. 
At Dudcot, a little to the right of the 
road, there is in the parish church a 
tomb of Sir Richard Blake, who died in 
1709. 

Harwell is situated near to the spot 
where the road runs into the high road 
from Wantage to Reading and London, 
about six miles from the former place. 
The manor anciently belonged to 
Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and king of 
the Romans. A tablet in the church 
records a singular benefaction to the 
poor, made by Christopher Elderfield, 
an eminent divine and a native of this 
parish, who died in 1652. “He gave 
lands for the purpose of purchasing in 
the spring of every year two milch cows 
to be given to two of the poorest men in 
the parish of Harwell, (burthened with 
families,) for their sustentation.” The 
impossibility of the poor procuring pas¬ 
ture in a neighbourhood where the land 
is chiefly arable, and we presume the 
impossibility of deciding who were the 
poorest men, have caused the trustees 
to depart from the strict letter of the 
directions: they now kill every winter, 
if the rents are sufficient, two cows or 

i 2 




116 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


oxen, and distribute the meat generally 
among the poor. There are almshouses 
for six poor widows, and various* other 
charities, including one for the educa¬ 
tion of poor children, for whom a school- 
house was given by Mr. Eaton, the 
rector, in 1772. 

East Hendred is about four miles 
«ast of Wantage. This place was for- 
imerly one of the seats of the cloth manu¬ 
facture. The stewardship of one of the 
manors in this parish is a nominal office, 
in the gift of the Chancellor of the Ex¬ 
chequer, and is one of the places which 
may be given for the purpose of vacating 
a seat in the House of Commons. There 
•is at East Hendred an ancient chapel, 
supposed to have been erected by the 
monks of Sheen, to whom the manor 
just referred to belonged: this chapel 
now forms two tenements. 

West, or Little Hendred, is about 
one mile nearer Wantage. A manor in 
this parish was anciently held in grand 
serjeantry by the service of buying the 
king’s ale. At East Ginge, about a 
mile farther to the left, is the source of 
a stream, which falls into the Thames 
near Monkey Island; and at the distance 
of about half a mile from East Ginge 
in the same direction, we come upon a 
branch of the old Ickleton-street. 

Returning towards the road, we find, 
a little nearer Wantage, East Lockinge 
and Lockinge Park, the seat of Sir 
Henry W. Martin, Bart.; and then 
Ardington, which lies near the road side, 
about two miles from Wantage. The 
manor of Ardington was bestowed by 
Edward III. upon his favourite Alice 


Ferrers, whose attainder, after Edward’s 
death, caused the estate again to revert 
to the crown. Before reaching Wantage 
the road is called the Port Way, a name 
it bears from hence westward to the 
boundaries of the county. 

Wantage, the birth place of Alfred 
the Great, anciently called Wanating, 
or Wanting, and which gives name to 
the hundred in which it is situated, lies 
on the borders of the vale of the White 
Horse, on a branch of the river Ocke, 
sixty miles, in a direct line west from 
London. The parish comprises the ham¬ 
lets of Charlton Grove and West Lock¬ 
inge, and contains 7530 English statute 
acres. Wantage has been supposed to 
have been a Roman station. Mr. Wise, 
the antiquarian, who visited the spot in 
1738, stated the vallum was then 
plainly visible ; and Roman coins have 
been found in an enclosure called Lim- 
borough. As a royal seat, Wantage was 
probably a place of some consequence 
in the Saxon times. The manor was 
bequeathed by Alfred to his wife Eals- 
with, daughter of Etlielred, Earl of 
Mercia. When the Norman survey 
was taken, it again formed a portion of 
the royal demesne. Richard I. gave it 
to Baldwin de Bethun, Earl of Albe¬ 
marle, who give it in frank-marriage to 
William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. 
Through his eldest daughter and co¬ 
heiress it passed to Hugh Bigod, Earl 
of Norfolk, who, about 1215, gave it, in 
reward for military services, to Pulk 
Fitzwarin, a Norman baron, in whose 
family it remained for several genera¬ 
tions. The Bourchiers, Earls of Bath, 



WALLINGFORD TO WANTAGE. 


117 


and the Wray family, afterwards pos¬ 
sessed the manor by descent. Both 
the manor and the hundred were an¬ 
ciently held of the manor of Hampstead 
Marshall, in this county. The only 
historical event of any importance con¬ 


nected with Wantage is that for which 
its name has been so celebrated—the 
birth of Alfred. We may here mention 
that in 1555 Cardinal Pole caused an enu¬ 
meration of the number of inhabitants 
to be made, and the return was not ex- 



[Iving Alfred.] 


ceeding 1000. During the Civil War, 
in 1644, Charles I. and his army, after 
dismantling the fortifications of Read¬ 
ing, remained here for some days. 

The Saxon palace in which Alfred 
was born Mr. Wiso conceives to have 
stood on the site of the Roman vallum 


before mentioned. The place in ques¬ 
tion is an enclosure on the south side of 
the brook that runs through the town, 
called the High Garden. Its form is 
that of an oblong square, containing 
about six acres of ground. Between 
this place and the river were discovered 











118 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


the remains of a building, called King 
Afred’s cellar, which was paved with 
brick, and appeared to have been a 
bath. Speed, on the authority of a 
list of religious houses attributed to 
Gervase of Canterbury, who lived in the 
reign of King John, mentions a priory 
of black nuns at a place called the 
Ham, in Berkshire. No other record 
of this establishment appears to exist. 
Its site is most probably occupied by 
Ham House in this parish. 

The town is governed by a chief con¬ 
stable. Petty sessions for the hundred 
are held every Saturday, and manorial 
courts once a-year. The town is very 
irregularly built, and contains but few 
edifices of a superior character. Le- 
land says, “ There be two churches in 
this market towne in one churche yarde, 
but the one is but a chapelleThe 
chapel is an ancient building, which 
has been long used as a school. Its 
north door is of Norman architecture. 
The church is a spacious handsome 
cruciform structure, in the Gothic style, 
with a square embattled tower rising 
from the intersection. It was either in 
part or wholly built by the Fitzwarren 
family, whose arms are placed on the 
roof. There is an alabaster monument 
in the church, supposed to be that of 
Sir Fulk Fitzwarren, who was a knight 
of the garter. Lysons, however, thinks 
the monument may refer to Sir William 
Fitzwarren, also a knight of the garter, 
as “Sir Fulk is known to have been 
buried at Whittington.” The church 
also contains several other interesting 
monuments. Captain Symond, who 


visited the church in 1644, mentions the 
tomb of Richard Davy, a public exe¬ 
cutioner, who died- in 1493, with the 
effigies, on a brass plate, of himself and 
wife, and a hatchet as the emblem of 
his office. The living is a vicarage in 
the deanery of Abingdon ; the patrons 
are the dean and chapter of Windsor. 
There are places of worship for the 
Independents, and Wesleyan Metho¬ 
dists, and Particular Baptists. On the 
old market cross is the following in¬ 
scription, “Pray for the good Earl of 
Bath, and for good master William 
Barnable, the builder hereof, 1580, and 
for William Lord Fitzwarren.” 

The inhabitants are chiefly employed 
in the manufacture of coarse cloth and 
twine, and in the flour and malt trade. 
A branch of the Wilts and Berks canal 
comes up to the town, by means of which 
coal is received, and flour, corn, and 
malt, sent to different parts of the 
country ; particularly to Bath, Bristol, 
and London. Wantage is a market 
town by prescription: the market, chiefly 
for the sale of corn, is held on Saturday. 
There are four annual fairs, namely, on 
each of the first Saturdays in March and 
May for cattle and cheese ; July 18, for 
cherries; and on October 18, a statute 
fair. A cheese fair is also held on the 
first Saturday in every month. 

In 1597 an act of parliament passed 
for vesting the town lands of Wantage, 
given in the reigns of Henry VI. and 
Henry VII. for charitable uses, in 
twelve inhabitants, to be deemed a body 
corporate, and to use a common seal, 
under the names of the “ Governors of 



WALLINGFORD TO WANTAGE. 


119 


the town lands of Wantage.” By this 
Act the revenues were directed to he ap¬ 
propriated to the relief of the poor, the 
repair of highways, and the support of a 
master to teach grammar. Other 
charities have been also vested in the 
governors, among them almshouses for 
thirteen poor people. The whole pro¬ 
perty now produces an income of 452/. 
The chief expenditure is for the relief 
of the poor, consisting of the support of 
the almhouses, money payments to a 
considerable number of poor people 
called out-pensioners, donations of bread 
weekly and yearly, and occasional dona¬ 
tions of cloth, great coats, coals, &c. 
Among the other charities are the 
almshouses founded by Mr. Robert 
Styles, in 1680, for twelve poor persons, 
who receive 3s. 6d. each weekly, and 
during half the year an extra 2s. weekly 
from another charity. 

The grammar school is now discon¬ 
tinued, for, in 1832, the master having 
but one scholar, and being in ill health, 
resigned. For some time after that 
period no application was made for 
admittance, and consequently the 
governors have made no new appoint¬ 
ment, thinking the better course would 
be to increase the salaries of the master 
and mistress of the English schools. 
The school is conducted under the 
general superintendence of the gover¬ 
nors. By their permission eight or nine 
boys are sent by the Baptist minister 
to the schools, the expense of their 
education being defrayed by a charity 
belonging to that sect. There are 
Sunday schools attached to the church, 
and to the dissenting chapels. 


Continuing our route westward of 
Wantage, we have about half a mile on 
the right East Challow, a hamlet in 
the parish of Letcombe Regis. The 
Berkshire and Wiltshire Canal passes 
through it. Near Challow House is a 
chapel of ease for the hamlet. 

Childrey, also on the right, is but a 
short distance from the road, about 
three miles from Wantage. There are 
there some slight remains of an ancient 
manor house belonging to the manor 
of Rampanes. The church presents 
some remains of Saxon architecture, 
and contains various monuments. There 
are brass figures of William Fynderne 
and his lady inlaid with lead ; the date 
is 1444. In the north transept is an 
altar tomb with the figure of a crusader 
supposed to be Sir Edmund Chelrey, 
under an ogee arch richly decorated. 
The windows are ornamented with 
stained glass. In the south transept 
was a chantry founded by W. Fettiplace. 
There are three stone stalls, of equal 
height, with plain trefoil arches, and an 
ancient leaden font divided into com¬ 
partments, each one bearing the figure 
of an abbot. Sir Edward Pocock, the 
learned Orientalist who died in 1691, 
was buried here. On the left side of 
the road is Childrey Warren and the 
Punch Bowl. 

West Challow, a hamlet of Let¬ 
combe Regis, situated about a mile 
from Childrey, formerly belonged to the 
nuns of Ambresbury. There is here a 
chapel of ease. 

Sparsholt lies a little to the right of 
the road about four miles from Wantage. 
The church is interesting. The doors 




120 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


have circular arches with Saxon orna¬ 
ments, and slender shafts in the early 
Gothic style on each side. There are 
three stone stalls of equal height with a 
piscina adjoining, uniform, and richly 
decorated with trefoils, crockets, &c- 
The stalls are divided by detached 
pillars with plain capitals and bases. 
In the chancel is an altar tomb orna¬ 
mented with shields and tracery, and 
bearing the effigy of a crusader under 
an ogee arch richly decorated with 
trefoils and crockets. On the opposite 
side of the chancel is a similar monu¬ 
ment, hav ing however no effigy. Under 
the south window of the south transept 
are two altar tombs, bearing each the 
effigy of a lady carved in wood, with 
long robe, veil and wimple, and the 
pillow supported by angels. At the 
feet of one are two dogs, of the other a 
lioness. The sides of one of these tombs 
are ornamented with nine figures of 
armed knights in different attitudes 
under arches enriched with foliage. In 
the same part of the church is the muti¬ 
lated figure of a knight, also carved in 
wood, resting on a stone slab on the fioor: 
he is in liuted armour and surcoat, and 
has a lion at his feet. Kingston Lisle, 
a hamlet of Sparsholt, about a mile 
distant, has a chapel of ease. The 
manor was the property and seat of the 
noble family of De Lisle, one of whom 
obtained a licence from the king for 
enclosing a park here in 1336. Kingston 
Lisle House was formerly a seat of 
Lord Craven. 

About a quarter of a mile from the 
road on the left, and about five miles 
from Wantage, is a curious stone called 


the Blowing Stone. At the back of 
this stone grows an old elm tree: the 
stone itself is a species of red sandstone. 
It is about three feet high, three 
feet six inches broad, and two feet thick, 
but is rough and of rather irregular 
surface. It has several holes in it of 
various sizes. There are seven holes 
in the front, three at the top, a large 
irregular broken hollow at the north 
end (for it stands north and south), 
and one if not more holes at the 
back. If a person blows in at any one 
of three of the holes, an extremely loud 
noise is produced, something between a 
note upon a French horn and the bel¬ 
lowing of a calf, and this can be heard 
in a favourable state of w’eatlier at Fa- 
ringdon Clump, a distance of about six 
miles; and a person standing at about 
a yard distant from either end of the 
stone while it is blown into will dis¬ 
tinctly feel the ground shake. The 
holes in the stone are of various sizes, 
but those which if blown into produce 
the sound easily admit a person's finger. 
The hole most commonly used to pro¬ 
duce the sound is at the top' of the 
stone; and if a small stick, eighteen 
inches long, be pushed in at this hole 
it will come out at a hole at the back of 
the stone, about a foot below the top, 
and almost immediately below the hole 
blown into. It is evident that this is 
the place at which the air finds its exit, 
as after the stone has been blown into 
at the top for a considerable time this 
hole becomes wet. There seems, how¬ 
ever, no doubt that there are chambers 
in the stone, as the irregular broken 
hollow at the north end of it has evi- 





WALLINGFORD TO WANTAGE. 


121 


dently formed a part of another place, 
at which a similar sound might once 
have been produced. In the neighbour¬ 
hood there exists a tradition that this 
stone was used for the purpose of giving 
an alarm on the approach of an enemy. 

About a mile and a half further we 
find 

Uffington Castle ; a large camp 
on the White Horse hill just above the 
village from which its name is derived. 
It is of an oval shape, about 700 feet in 
diameter from E. to W., and about 500 
feet from N. to S. It is surrounded with 
a high inner vallum, and a small outer 
one. White Horse hill is 893 feet high, 
and the views from it are very ex¬ 
tensive in every direction. The White 
Horse has been connected by Wise with 
the battle of HSscesdun, and it is un¬ 
doubtedly a work either of Saxon origi¬ 
nal, or of still higher antiquity. It 
is the figure of a horse cut in the turf 
on the north-west face of the range of 
chalk downs which cross the county at a 
part where the declivity is at once lofty 
and steep. Mr. Wise is in raptures 
with the skill displayed in the work, and 
in the admirable choice of a situation 
where it is little exposed to injury or 
decay. More sober judges, however, 
describe it as a rude figure, about 374 
feet in length. When the afternoon 
sun shines upon it, it may be seen at a 
considerable distance—ten, twelve, or 
even fifteen miles; and from its im¬ 
mense size forms a remarkable object. 
It has given name to the' hill on which 
it is carved and to the vale above which 
that hill rises. The inhabitants of the 


neighbourhood had an ancient custom 
of assembling ‘ to scour the horse,’ i. e. 
to clear away the turf where it had en¬ 
croached upon it. On such occasions a 
rural festival was held, and they were 
regaled by the lord of the manor ; but 
it does not appear that they have ob¬ 
served this custom since 1780. 

Just under the White Horse hill is a 
round eminence called Dragon hill 
which has been supposed to have been 
the tumulus of some British chief, but 
it is by no means certain that the mount 
is at all artificial. Woolston, a hamlet 
of Uffington, lies between the castle and 
the village, on the right of the road. 
We are now at the head of the vale of 
White Horse which extends from 
hence to Abingdon. 

Uffington is about seven miles from 
Wantage. The parish church is a 
handsome edifice in the form of a cross, 
and built in the earliest style of English 
architecture. The windows are lancet 
shaped with slender detached pillars. 
There are three stone stalls with a pis¬ 
cina adjoining in the interior, of unequal 
height, with pointed arches and pillars 
with plain capitals. The spire was de¬ 
stroyed by lightning about 1750. The 
river Ock rises in the neighbourhood 
from two or three small springs. 

Compton Beauchamp a little off the 
road, also on the right, is about seven 
miles from Wantage. In the church is 
an ancient stone seat of considerable 
length, with an arm at each end. There 
is also a piscina with the body detached 
from the wall. On the hill overlooking 

O 

the village is Hard well Camp, an ancient 




122 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


earthwork of a square form, broken by 
the edge of the hill, and surrounded by 
a double vallum, except where the steep¬ 
ness of the ascent renders such defence 
unnecessary. Its dimensions are about 
140 paces by 1 80. It is considered pro¬ 
bable that from its form it was a Roman 
work: the coins of that people have 
been found about the spot. 


Ashbury is on the road, about nine 
miles from Wantage. The manor was 
given by King Edred to the monastery 
of Glastonbury. Ashdown Park, the 
seat of the Earl of Craven, is in this 
neighbourhood. Not far from hence is 
a circular camp close upon the edge 
of the county, called Alfred’s Castle. 




123 


CHAPTER IX. 

OXFORD TO ABINGDON AND NEWBURY. 


The Great Western Railway intersects 
this line of road at Steventon, where 
there is a station for passengers. Ste¬ 
venton is ten miles from Oxford, about 
fifteen from Newbury, and four from 
Abingdon, direct distance; it is the 
nearest station to Oxford on this rail¬ 
way. Moulsford Station, also on the 
Great Western Railway, is about seven 
miles east of the route described in this 
chapter. A line drawn from the station 
in a direction due west would intersect 
the road about one mile north of East 
Usley, which town is sixteen miles direct 
distance from Oxford, and nine from 
Newbury. 

Crossing the river Isis by Folly bridge, 
South Hinksey is on the right of 
the road, about two miles from Oxford. 
This was formerly a hamlet of Cumnor, 
and was made a parish at the same time 
as North Hinksey. The road next passes 
through an extensive wood called 
Bagley wood, beyond which, on the 
left, near the banks of the Thames, is 
Kennington, a hamlet partly belonging 
to the parish of Sunningwell, and partly 
to that of Radley. It had formerly a 
chapel of ease, which many years ago 
fell down. Having passed through the 
wood, we find a little beyond it, lying 


off the road on the right, the parish of 
Sunningwell. In the church is the 
monument of Hannibal Baskerville, lord 
of the manor, who died in 1688, and 
some memorials of Bishop Fell’s family. 

Bayworth, a hamlet of Sunningwell, 
had formerly a chapel of ease much 
used for private marriages, and which 
since the important changes in the law 
made during last century has gone to 
decay. 

Radley lies on the left of the road, 
within three miles of Abingdon. The 
manor was purchased from the abbot 
and convent of Abingdon by Geo. Ston- 
house, Esq., one of the clerks of green 
cloth to Queen Elizabeth. His second 
son Sir George Stonhouse, distinguished 
himself in the royal cause during the 
civil war, and was inconsequence obliged 
by the parliamentary sequestrators to 
pay a large sum as a composition for 
his estates. The manor afterwards 
passed to Captain Geo. Bowyer, created 
a baronet in 1794 for his services in the 
celebrated engagement with the French 
fleet, on the 1st of June in that year. 
In the parish church is a very handsome 
monument of Sir George Stonhouse, 
the first baronet, with his effigies in 
robes. Radley House stands in a large 



124 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


park. Sigworth, once a considerable 
hamlet of this parish, is now depopu¬ 
lated. We next reach Abingdon, one 
of the principal towns in the county, 
and a place of great antiquity. 

Abingdon, fifty-six miles from Lon¬ 
don, and twenty-six from Reading, is 
pleasantly situated on the right bank 
of the Thames, just at the mouth of the 
Ock, and at the entrance into the 
Thames of the Wilts and Berks canal. 
Its population in 1831 was 5259. It 
returns one member to parliament. 
Some have carried back the origin of 
Abingdon to the time of the Britons. 
It received its name of Abban dun, or 
Abben don, the town of the abbey, from 
the removal hither of a monastery pre¬ 
viously fixed at Bagley Wood in the 
neighbourhood. It was a place of con¬ 
siderable importance in the period of 
the Saxon Heptarchy ; and Offa, King 
of Mercia, had a palace here. The 
abbey, which was founded in the twelfth 
century, flourished under the favour of 
successive princes; and its revenues, 
at the dissolution of religious houses, 
amounted to nearly 2000/. per annum. 
Henry I. was educated in it. The 
streets are spacious, diverging from the 
market-place, and are well paved and 
lighted; the supply of water is also 
good. The market-house is an elegant 
structure of freestone, and in it is a 
spacious hall for transacting public 
business. The July and October ses¬ 
sions and the summer assizes are held 
here. Abingdon returns one member 
to parliament. It has a separate juris¬ 
diction, having obtained a charter of 


incorporation in the reign of Philip and 
Mary, a.d. 1557. There are two hand¬ 
some churches, those of St. Helen and 
St. Nicholas; and meeting-houses for 
the Baptists, Independents, Quakers, 
and Wesleyan Methodists. There is a 
free grammar-school well endowed, a 
national and a British school, and some 
other foundations for the purposes of 
education. There are also many alms¬ 
houses, in the chief of which (Christ’s 
Hospital) thirty-two poor women are 
supported. The trade of Abingdon 
consists of malting, hemp-dressing, and 
sack and sail cloth making: in the 
latter branch of manufacture there has 
been a considerable decline since the 
peace. The corn-market is large. 
Capacious wharfs and warehouses have 
been erected at the entry of the Wilts 
and Berks canal into the Thames. 

At a short distance from Abingdon 
the road crosses the Berkshire and Wilt¬ 
shire canal, where the latter is only 
about three quarters of a mile from the 
Thames. Passing through the hamlet 
of Sutton Wick, we next find Drayton, 
at a distance of between two and three 
miles from Abingdon. This was for¬ 
merly a chapelry dependent on St. 
Helen’s, Abingdon ; but the vicars of 
that church have long ceased to officiate 
here, or to exercise their right of ap¬ 
pointing a curate. 

Sutton Courtney lies about two miles 
to the left of Drayton. The manor at 
an early period belonged to the abbot 
and convent of Abingdon. Abbot 
Rethunus gave it to Kenulf, King of 
the Mercians and West Saxons, in 



OXFORD TO ABINGDON AND NEWBURY. 


125 


exchange for the site of an ancient 
royal palace, situated near the convent, 
and where, to the great annoyance of 
its inmates, the king’s hounds and 
hawks were kept. Henry II. gave the 
manor to Reginald Courtney, ancestor 
of the earls of Devonshire. On the 
attainder of Thomas, Earl of Courtney, 
for bearing arms at Towton Field against 
Edward IV., the manor was granted to 
Sir Walter Devereux. It was afterwards 
restored to the Courtneys, and again 
lost by them on the attainder of Henry 
Courtney, Marquis of Exeter. The 
church was given to the abbot and con¬ 
vent of Abingdon by William the Con¬ 
queror. It contains an ancient font, 
surrounded with Saxon arches and 
pillars, between which are foliage and 
flowers. The rectory house has the 
appearance of having been a monastic 
residence, and, it is said, was used by 
the monks of Abingdon as a place of 
retirement for their invalids. Some of 
the rooms of this building retain their 
ancient form, and several of the ancient 
windows. Appleford is a large hamlet 
of Sutton Courtney, about two miles 
still farther left from the road. There 
is here a chapel of ease and a cemetery: 
in the chapel are some monuments of 
the Justin family. Edmund Bradstock 
founded a school at Appleford for the 
education of twenty poor children. 

Milton lies but a short distance from 
the road, on the left, at a distance of 
nearly four miles from Abingdon. In 
the manor house is a chapel fitted up 
for the service of the Roman Catholic 
church; the windows are decorated 


with stained glass. The free school in 
this parish was built and endowed by 
the Rev. G. Warner, the incumbent, at 
an expense of 2000/. 

Steventon is situated about half a 
mile from the road, on the right. It 
had formerly an alien priory of Black 
Monks, a cell to the Abbey of Bee in Nor¬ 
mandy, to which monastery the manor 
of Steventon had been given by Henry I. 
In consequence of the seizure of these 
foreign houses during the wars with 
France, the manor and the impropriate 
rectory,with the advowson of the vicarage, 
were sold by the monastery of Bee to 
Sir Hugh Calverly. Steventon is the 
nearest point to Oxford on the Great 
Western Railway, and is consequently 
an important station. The line was 
opened to Steventon in June, 1839. 

Harwell on the left and East Hendred 
on the right are noticed in the route 
from Wallingford to Wantage p. ] 15-16 ; 
we pass on therefore towards Ilsley. On 
the way we find, on the left, in the parish 
of Chilton, Kate’s Gore, where there 
were at one period large stables, built by 
William, Duke of Cumberland, for his 
race-horses, and near which the road 
crosses the Ickleton Street, having bar- 
rows in the vicinity of various parts of its 
course, both to the right and to the 
left. In this latter direction it runs 
through a large plain called Blewberry 
Plain. 

About ten miles from Abingdon we 
find a road on the right which leads to 
West Ilsley, distant about one mile 
and a half. The learned Antonio de 
Dominis, archbishop of Spalatro, was 



126 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


presented to the rectory by James I. 
There are breweries in this parish, 
famous for their beer. 

East or Market Ilsley (anciently 
Huldesley or Hildesley) is a small 
market town, eleven miles from Abing¬ 
don, nine from Newbury, and fifty-four 
from London through Reading. It is 
situated amidst the downs formed by 
that range of chalk hills which has been 
described as crossing the county: on 
these downs a great number of sheep 
are fed. Although East Ilsley is a 
very small place, of not more than 738 
inhabitants (in 1831), its sheep-market, 
which commences on the Wednesday 
in Easter-week, and is held every alter¬ 
nate Wednesday till Whitsuntide, is one 
of the largest in this part of England. 
The sheep are purchased by the Hert¬ 
fordshire and Buckinghamshire far¬ 
mers, and fattened for the London 
market. There is a market on Wednes¬ 
day throughout the year, but the great 
sheep-market is for a limited season, as 
mentioned above : there are also two 
fairs. The sheep downs in the neigh¬ 
bourhood are very extensive. In the 
church is a single memorial, with the 
date 1606, of the ancient possessors of 
the manor,| who took their name, 
Hildesley, from the town. The family 
has been long extinct. 

Compton is about two miles from 
Ilsley. The manor of West Compton 
in this parish is the paramount manor 
of the hundred, and belonged formerly 
to the abbey of Wherwell in Hampshire. 
Catmerelies between two or three miles 
to the right of the road. This parish 


had formerly a market on Mondays, 
granted by Edward I., and a fair. At 
the commencement of the present 
century the Messrs. Lysons stated in 
their ‘ History of Berkshire,’ that it 
contained but one farm-house and a 
cottage ; but in the census of 1831 the 
number of houses appears to have been 
thirteen, inhabited by seventeen fami¬ 
lies. The church was formerly a chapel 
to Farnborough. Between Catmere 
and Beedon is Stanmore, a hamlet of 
the latter parish. 

Beedon, formerly Budon, within 
eight miles from Newbury. This was 
formerly one of the seats of the Lisle 
family. Alice de Lisle had the royal 
permission in 1336 to make a park. 
The church, which was formerly a 
chapel to Farnborough, has ancient 
narrow-pointed windows with slender 
pillars. Compton Castle is on the left. 

Peaskmore is situated on the right 
between one and two miles distant from 
the road. The manor was the property 
of Thomas, the poet Chaucer’s son. 
William Lyford, a Puritan writer, was 
born here. The prior of Poghley had 
a manor in this parish, a part of which 
is still called Prior’s side. The only 
noticeable inscription in the church is 
one to the memory of Mr. William 
Coward, lord of the manor, who died 
in 1739. This gentleman possessed an 
income of only 11a-year; yet out of 
it he managed to build, at his own 
expense, a tower to the parish church, 
to give a great bell and the communion 
plate, to maintain a hospitable table, 
and to be considered an eminently 



OXFORD TO ABINGDON AND NEWBURY. 


127 


charitable man to the poor. New 
Langley Hall, a little off the road on 
the left, is a chapel of ease; and between 
two and three miles farther in the same 
direction is Hampstead Norris, which 
has also been known by the names of 
Hampstead Cifrewast, Hampstead Fer- 
rars, and Hampstead Norris, as the 
manor successively belonged to the 
families indicated by the names affixed. 

Yattendon, also on the left, is about 
five miles from the road, and about eight 
from Newbury. It had anciently a 
market, granted in 1258, with a fair; 
both have been long discontinued, but 
there is a fair still held on the 13th of 
October. In 1147 Sir John Norreys, 
master of the great wardrobe to Henry 
VI., and ancestor of Lord Norreys of 
Rycot, had a licence to embattle the 
manor house, and to impark 600 acres 
of land. The mansion here referred to 
was pulled down long ago, and a new 
house built on the site. The parish 
church was built by John Norreys, pro¬ 
bably the Sir John before mentioned. 
The only remarkable monument is that 
of a Sir John Norreys, who died in 1597, 
discontented, it is said, at not having 
been better rewarded for his public ser¬ 
vices, which are stated in detail on the 
monument as follows,— 

“In memory of Sir John Norreys, 
knight, the second son to Henry, the 
first Lord Norreys of Ricot, who in the 
14th of Elizabeth, being sent ambassador 
into France, and managing his business 
with prudence and honour, was by rea¬ 
son thereof, and his father’s suffering 
for her mother’s sake, advanced to the 


dignity of a peer of this realm. This 
Sir John Norreys, that valiant and 
expert soldier, so famous in his time for 
his valour and military knowledge, was 
first trained up in those exercises in 
the civil war of France, under Admiral 
Coligni; next in Ireland, under Walter 
Earl of Essex ; then served in the 
Netherlands, under Matthias Archduke 
of Austria; after that under John Duke 
of Loreyne; next under Count William 
of Nassau, and in the 27th of Elizabeth, 
12th of August, was by the queen con¬ 
stituted colonel-general of all the horse 
and foot, then to pass out of England 
for the relief of Antwerp, then besieged 
by the Spaniards; before the end of 
which month he had another commission 
from Count Maurice of Nassau, and the 
same year was empowered to treat with 
the states-general of the United Pro¬ 
vinces for the entertaining those bands 
of the English foot, as by the queen’s 
instructions were appointed to serve in 
those parts. Several commissions he 
had likewise from Robert Earl of Lei¬ 
cester, after he was constituted general 
of the English auxiliaries in those pro¬ 
vinces, viz., two in 28 Elizabeth, and 
one in 29 Elizabeth. In 30 Elizabeth, 
being then president of the council in 
the province of Munster in Ireland, he 
had a commission bearing date 11th of 
October, giving him authority to con¬ 
stitute such principal officers, as well by 
sea as land, as he should think fit for 
the withstanding all hostile attempts, 
and for the defence and protection of 
that realm. In 33 Elizabeth, he was 
constituted captain-general of those 



128 


JOURNEY-ROOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


English auxiliaries which were sent in 
aid of Henry IV. of France, against his 
rebellious subjects in Brittany ; and 
having deported himself with great 
prudence and courage in all those 
eminent employments, to the no little 
honour of the English nation, as well 
as his own name, he departed this life 
at his house at Yattendon, July 3,1597, 
and in the 68th year of his age.” 

Carte the historian also lies buried in 
the church. He wrote a great part of 
his History of England in the village. 
The date of his burial is 1754. About 
a mile and a half from Yattendon, and 
nearer to the road, is the small village 
of Frilsham. Oare, a hamlet of Chieve- 
ley, is within about two miles of the 
road. It has a chapel of ease. About 
a mile hence is Grimsbury Castle, not 
far from which is Marston House. A 
chapel was built at Marston by Sir 
Jeffrey Martell. Priors’ Court, or Cur- 
rage, now belongs to the dean and 
chapter of Westminster: Priors’ Court 
House was at one period held under 
that church. 

We now once more return into the 
road, just at the spot where we find the 
village of Chieveley. There are three 
hamlets in this parish having chapels 
of ease. Oare, already mentioned ; Leck- 
hampstead, about two miles from Chie¬ 
veley, on the right of the road, the manor 
of which was granted by Edward II. to 
his favourite Piers Gaveston; and 
Winterbourn, about the same distance 
from Chieveley, also on the right, but 
nearer to Newbury. North Heath is 
in this parish. 


Donnington Castle, in the parish of 
Shaw, is situated about a mile from 
Newbury, on an eminence thickly 
wooded, at the base of which runs the 
river Kennet. It is understood to have 
been erected by Sir Richard Abberbury, 
Richard II.’s guardian during his 
minority, and who was expelled from 
the court in 1388 by the barons for his 
adherence to the cause of that monarch. 
In 1398 Chaucer, the poet, retired here 
but two years before his death; the 
castle being, it is supposed, purchased 
about that time by his son Thomas, 
who had married a rich heiress. After 
Thomas Chaucer’s death, the estate 
was settled upon his daughter Alice, 
through whom William de la Pole, 
Duke of Suffolk, the lady’s third hus¬ 
band, obtained possession of it. This 
nobleman considerably enlarged the 
buildings of the castle, and made it his 
occasional residence. Upon the at¬ 
tainder of the duke, Henry VIII. 
granted the estate with the title of Duke 
of Suffolk, to Charles Brandon. Cam¬ 
den described the castle in his time as 
a small but neat structure, on the top 
of a woody hill commanding a plea¬ 
sant prospect, and lighted by windows 
on every side. In the beginning of the 
Civil War the castle was garrisoned 
for the king, being esteemed a place of 
considerable importance as commanding 
the road from Newbury to Oxford. It 
was first attacked by the parliament¬ 
arians under Major-General Middleton 
in 1643, who, to a summons of a sur¬ 
render, received a spirited reply from 
Captain John Boys, the king’s officer. 



OXFORD TO ABINGDON AND NEWBURY. 


129 


The place was accordingly assaulted, 
but the besiegers were driven back 
with great loss. On the 29th Sep¬ 
tember, 1644, Colonel Horton invested 
the place, and having raised a battery 
at the foot of the hill near Newbury, 
continued for twelve days so incessant 
a fire, that he reduced the castle almost 
to a heap of ruins ; three of the towers 
and a part of the wall being knocked 
down. A second summons was now 
sent, but still in vain ; and although 
the Earl of Manchester came to join in 
the siege, and the castle was again 
battered for two or three days, every 
effort to take the place failed, and 
ultimately the parliamentarians raised 
the siege. Captain Boys was knighted 
for his services on this occasion. After 
the second battle of Newbury, the same 
gallant officer secured the king’s ar¬ 
tillery under the walls, whilst the latter 
retired towards Oxford; upon which 
the castle was once more attacked, the 
Earl of Essex being the leader, but as 
fruitlessly as ever. In a few days, the 
king was allowed to re-victual the 
garrison without opposition. The only 
part of the castle now remaining is the 
entrance gateway, with its two towers, 
and a small portion of the walls. These 
ran nearly parallel to the cardinal 
points of the compass, with the princi¬ 
pal entrance to the east. The western 
part of the building terminated in a 
semi-octagon shape. The walls were 
defended by round towers at the angles. 
The length of the eastern end, in¬ 
cluding the towers, was about eighty- 
five feet, and the extent, from east to 


west, about 120 feet. The gateway is 
in good preservation, and the place Tor 
the portcullis is still visible. A stair¬ 
case winds up the southern tower, the 
summit of which commands an exceed¬ 
ingly beautiful prospect of the Hamp¬ 
shire hills, and of the intervening 
country. Round the castle, occupying 
nearly the whole eminence, are the 
remains of the entrenchments thrown 
up in the Civil War, and the evident 
strength of which help to explain the 
successful defence of the castle. At 
the conclusion of the Civil War, the 
ruinous parts of the building were 
taken down and used in the building of 
a mansion at the bottom of the hill, 
called the Castle House. 

The hospital of Donnington appears 
to have been founded by Sir Richard 
Abberbury, who, in the sixteenth year 
of Richard II.’s reign, obtained a licence 
to build an hospital for the support of 
poor persons, and endowed it with cer¬ 
tain lands. One of the almsmen was 
to be placed over the others, and called 
“ Minister of God of the Poor-house of 
Donnington.” After the dissolution, the 
estate remained in the possession of the 
Crown until about 1570, when, on the 
petition of Charles Earl of Nottingham, 
it was restored to the hospital; which 
from that time was called “ The hospi¬ 
tal of Queen Elizabeth at Donnington, 
in time past begun to be founded by 
Sir Richard Abberbury, Knight; and 
by Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, 
perfected and consummated.” The 
house it is supposed was rebuilt about 
the same period by the earl. It con¬ 
ic 



130 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


tains twelve superior tenements for as 
many almsmen, a large room called the 
Hall, for common use, and apartments 
for the minister, all in excellent repair. 
The annual rental of the hospital is 
now 112/., in addition to which its casual 
receipts from fines, &c., have averaged, 
for the years 1830 to 1836, 288/. The 
inmates altogether receive about 7s. a 
week each. There was here a house of 
Trinitarian or Maturine friars. The 
earliest notice of this establishment oc¬ 
curs in a deed connected with Sir Rich¬ 
ard Abberbury, his letter bearing date, 
17th of Richard II., wherein Sir Richard 
directed, tha«t the almsmen should 
‘‘every daye go to masse to a Chappel 
of Fryers near adjoining, and should 
say sixty Pater-nosters, and as many 
Ave-Marias,” Henry “White, the last 
prior, surrendered the house in 1539, 
when its net revenue, was 19/. 3$. 10c?. 
The house called Donnington Priory 
now marks the site of this ancient esta¬ 
blishment, of which there are yet some 
slight remains. The mansion called 
the Grove was built by Petit Andrews, 
Esq., the author of the “ History of 
Great Britain considered with the Chro¬ 
nology of Europe,” and greatly improved 
by W. Brummel, Esq., secretary to Lord 
North. It is delightfully situated at 
the foot of the hill on which stands the 
castle. The library is large and hand¬ 
some, and there are some good paintings 
in the different rooms. The stream of 
the Lambourn here widens into a river, 


and forms a fine piece of water in its 
progress through the grounds. 

Shaw is on the left of the road, one 
mile from Newbury. The manor was 
possessed, in the time of Elizabeth, by 
Mr. Dolman, a rich clothier of Newbury, 
who, in 1581 completed the stately man¬ 
sion now known as Shaw Place, and 
which is said to have greatly excited the 
envy of his neighbours : the following 
lines have been preserved as one of the 
popular expressions of this feeling— 

“ Lord have mercy upon us miserable 
sinners: 

Thomas Dolman has built a new house. 

And has turned away all his spinners.” 

Over the portico is this inscription : 
Edentulus vescentium dentibus invidet 
et oculus caprearum talpa contemnit.” 
In the second battle of Newbury the 
King’s troops were posted here under 
the command of Lieut.-Col. Page, who 
being attacked by a large body of foot, 
repulsed them with great loss. A bas¬ 
ket-full of cannon balls, thrown either 
during this battle of Newbury, or in the 
siege of Donnington Castle, and picked 
up from different parts of the grounds, 
is still preserved. In an old oak wain¬ 
scot of a bow window is a small hole 
about the height of a man’s head, which, 
according to tradition, was made by a 
bullet fired at the king whilst dressing 
at the window, and which very narrowly 
missed. The church presents some 
Saxon remains. 




131 


CHAPTER X. 

OXFORD TO FARINGDON. 


The Great Western Railway does 
not intersect this road from Oxford to 
Faringdon, but passes for some dis¬ 
tance in a line nearly parallel to it. 
A line drawn from the Steventon sta¬ 
tion to the nearest point of the road 
would intersect it between Fifield and 
Kingston Bagpuze, midway between 
Oxford and Faringdon. The Faring¬ 
don Road station is about six miles 
from the town of Faringdon. 

The turnpike road enters the county 
at Botley, a tithing of Cumnor, situate 
near the Thames, about a mile from 
Oxford; and turning to the right, and 
proceeding for about two miles in a di¬ 
rection parallel to the course of the 
river, we find the decayed village of 
With am. This is in the hundred of 
Hormer, and situated at the foot of a hill, 
on the summit of which are yet visible 
the remains of a desolated fortress, 
supposed to have been built by Kinewulf, 
Kingof the West Saxons, during his wars 
with Oifa, King of the Mercians. It is un¬ 
derstood to have fallen into the possession 
of the latter, and made by him a place of 
residence. In ancient times there was 
a nunnery at Witham, founded originally 
at Abingdon, by the sister of King 
Ceadwall. It was deserted by the nuns 


in consequence of the erection of the 
castle, and never again inhabited by 
them. The manor-house was built by 
one of the Harcourt family. It is a very 
old stone structure, with an embattled 
tower, surmounted by two octangular 
turrets, and the whole surrounded by a 
moat. The hall remains nearly in its 
original state. In the wall of the 
parish church are brass figures of the 
original possessors of the manor—the 
Wyghtliam family: there was also at 
one period a memorial of Edward 
Purcell, brother of the great musician. 
The battle through which Offa obtained 
possession of the castle was fought, ac¬ 
cording to tradition, at a place called 
Sandfield, in the neighbourhood where 
Hearne, in his ‘ Liber Niger,’ says ar¬ 
mour swords, and human bones have 
been found. Sackwovth, in the vicinity 
of Witham, was formerly a large town, 
abounding, says Mr. Warton, in his 
‘History of Kiadington,’ with inns for 
the reception of pilgrims. This place 
has fallen into complete insignificance. 
Some remains of the original buildings 
are, it is said, yet visible on the banks of 
the river, including the fragments of a 
bridge which crossed the stream to 
Binsey. Returning to Botley, we find, 

k 2 




132 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


i 


at a distance of about a mile from the 
high road on the left— 

North Hinksey, which was formerly 
a hamlet of Cumnor; but Montague, 
second Earl of Abingdon, endowed the 
chapel with vicarial tithes, and made it 
a parish. The manor formerly belonged 
to the abbot and convent of Abingdon. 
The church has but one door-way, which 
is of Saxon workmanship. Within it is 
a memorial of Thomas Willis, father to 
the celebrated Dr. Willis, and ancestor 
of Browne Willis, who died in the royal 
cause at the siege of Oxford. An in¬ 
scription on the monument of W. Fin- 
more, fellow of St. John’s College, 
Oxford, who died in 1646, begins thus : 
“ Reader, look to thy feet; honest and 
loyal men are sleeping under them.” 
There is a cross in the churchyard. 
Again returning to the high road, we find 
Cumner, or Cumnor, about three 
miles nearly west of Oxford, and situated 
on the brow of a hill, commanding a very 
extensive prospect over the counties of 
Oxford and Gloucester. The manor 
belonged to the abbots of Abingdon, 
who had a house here for retirement in 
case of the plague, sickness, &c., pre¬ 
vailing at Abingdon. After the Refor¬ 
mation, this house was granted to the 
last abbot for life, and on his death 
came into possession of Anthony Forster, 
whose epitaph in Cumnor church speaks 
highly of him as being amiable and ac¬ 
complished. But in Ashmole’s ‘Anti¬ 
quities of Berkshire’ he is represented 
as one of the parties to the murder of 
the first Countess of Leicester, who was 
secretly despatched while staying at 


Cumnor by the order of her husband’ 
who was then aspiring to the hand of 
Queen Elizabeth. The following extract 
from Ashmole details the principal cir¬ 
cumstances of this melancholy story :— 
“ Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a 
very goodly personage, and singularly 
well featured, being a great favourite to 
Queen Elizabeth, it was thought, and 
commonly reported, that had he been a 
bachelor, "or widower, the queen would 
have made him her husband: to this 
end, to free himself of all obstacles, he 
commands his wife, or perhaps with fair 
flattering entreaties, desires her to repose 
herself here at his servant Anthony 
Forster’s house, who then lived at the 
aforesaid manor-house (Cumner-place) ; 
and also prescribed to Sir Richard 
Varney, (a prompter to this design,) at 
his coming hither, that he should first 
attempt to poison her, and if that did not 
take effect, then by any other way what¬ 
soever, to despatch her. This, it seems, 
was proved by the report of Dr. Walter 
Bavly, sometime Fellow of New College, 
then living in Oxford, and Professor of 
Physic in that University, who, because 
he would not consent to take away her 
life by poison, the earl endeavoured to 
displace him from the court. This man, 
it seems, reported for most certain that 
there was a practice in Cumnor among 
the conspirators to have poisoned this 
poor innocent lady, a little before she 
was killed, which was attempted after 
this manner :—They seeing the good 
lady sad and heavy, fas one that well 
knew by her other handling that her 
death was not far off,) began to persuade 



OXFORD TO FARINGDON. 


133 


her that her present disease was abun¬ 
dance of melancholy, and other humours, 
&c. And therefore would needs counsel 
her to take some potion, which she ab¬ 
solutely refusing to do, as still suspect¬ 
ing the worst: whereupon they sent a 
messenger on a day (unawares to her) 
for Dr. Bayly, and entreated him to per¬ 
suade her to take some little potion by 
his direction, and they would get the 
same at Oxford, meaning to have added 
something of their own for her comfort, 
as the doctor, upon just cause and con¬ 
sideration, did suspect, seeing their great 
importunity, and the small need the 
lady had of physic; and therefore he 
peremptorily denied their request, mis¬ 
doubting (as he afterwards reported) 
lest if they had poisoned her under the 
name of his potion, he might have been 
hanged for a colour of their sin; and the 
doctor remained still well assured, that 
this way taking no effect, she would not 
long escape their violence, which after¬ 
wards happened thus:—For Sir Richard 
Varney aforesaid, (the chief projector in 
this design,) who by the earl’s order 
remained that day of death alone with 
her, with one man only, and Forster, 
who had that day forcibly sent away all 
her servants from her to Abingdon mar¬ 
ket, about three miles distant from this 
place, they, I say, whether first 'stifling 
her, or else strangling her, afterwards 
flung her down a pair of stair and 
broke her neck, using much violence 
upon her; but yet, however, though it 
was vulgarly reported, that she by chance 
fell down stairs, but yet without hurting 
her hood that was upon her head. 


Yet the inhabitants will tell you there, 
that she was conveyed from her usual 
chamber where she lay to another, 
where the bed’s head of the chamber 
stood close to a privy postern door, 
where they, in the night came and 
stifled her in her bed, bruised her head 
very much, broke her neck, and at 
length flung her down stairs, thereby 
believing the world would have thought 
it a mischance, and so have blinded their 
villany. But, behold the mercy and 
justice of God in revenging and disco¬ 
vering this lady’s murder; for one of 
the persons that was a coadjutor in this 
murder was afterwards taken for a 
felony in the marches of Wales, and 
offering to publish the manner of the 
aforesaid murder, was privately made 
away with in prison by the earl’s ap¬ 
pointment. And Sir Richard Varney, 
the other, dying about the same time in 
London, cried miserably, and blas¬ 
phemed God, and said to a person of 
note (who has related the same toothers 
since) not long before his death, that all 
the devils in hell did tear him in pieces. 
Forster, likewise, after this fact, being a 
man formerly addicted to hospitality, 
company, mirth, and music, was after¬ 
wards observed to forsake all this, and 
being affected with much melancholy 
(some say with madness) pined and 
drooped away. The wife, too, of Bald 
Butler, kinsman to the earl, gave out 
the whole fact a little before her death. 
Neither are the following passages to be 
forgotten:—That as soon as ever she 
was murdered, they made great haste to 
bury her before the coroner had given 




134 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


in his inquest, (which the earl himself 
condemned as not done advisedly,) which 
her father Sir John Robertsett (as I 
suppose), hearing of, came with all speed 
hither, caused her corpse to be taken 
up, the coroner to sit upon her, and 
further inquiry to be made concerning 
this business to the full; but it was 
generally thought that the earl stopped 
his mouth, and made up the business 
betwixt them; and the good earl, to make 
plain to the world the great love he bore 
to her while alive,—what a grief the loss 
of so virtuous a lady was to his tender 
heart,—caused (thou gh the thin g by these 
and other means was beaten into the 
heads of the principal men of the Uni¬ 
versity of Oxford) her body to be re¬ 
buried in St. Mary’s Church in Oxford, 
with great pomp and solemnity. It is 
remarkable, when Dr. Babington, the 
earl’s chaplain, did preach the funeral 
sermon, he tript once or twice in his 
speech, by recommending to their 
memories that virtuous lady so pitifully 
murdered instead of saying pitifully 
slain.” 

It is needless to state that Sir Walter 
Scott’s novel of ‘ Kenilworth ’ is founded 
upon the above circumstantial state¬ 
ments of Ashmole; but he tells us that 
his first acquaintance with the history 
was through the medium of Mickles’ 
ballad about Cumnor, which he read 
when a youth. This piece has not found 
its way into many collections of popular 
poetry, and as it possesses a local in¬ 
terest, while it will also be new to some 
readers, we therefore give it with the 
orthography modernised:— 


CUMNOR HALL. 

The dews of summer night did fall ; 

The moon, sweet regent of the sky, 

Silver’d the walls of Cumnor Hall, 

And many an oak that grew thereby. 

Now nought was heard beneath the skies 
The sounds of busy life were still. 

Save an unhappy lady’s sighs. 

That issued from that lonely pile. 

“ Leicester,” she cried, “ is this thy love 
That thou so oft hast sworn to me, 

To leave me in this lonely grove ; 

Immured in shameful privity P 

“ No more thou com’st with lover's speed. 
Thy once beloved bride to see ; 

But be she alive, or be she dead, 

I fear, stern Earl, ’s the same to thee. 

“ Not so the usage I received 

When happy in my father’s hall ; 

No faithless husband then me grieved. 

No chilling fears did me appal. 

“ I rose up with the cheerful morn, 

No lark more blithe, no flower more gay 

And like the bird that haunts the thorn, 

So merrily sung the livelong day. 

“If that my beauty is but small, 

Among court ladies all despised, 

Why didst thou rend it from that hall, 
Where, scornful Earl, it well was prized 

“ And when you first to me made suit, 
How fair I was you oft would say ! 

And, proud of conquest, pluck’d the fruit, 
Then left the blossom to decay. 

“Yes ! now neglected and despised, 

The rose is pale, the lily’s dead ; 

But he that once their charms so prized 
Is sure the cause those charms are fled. 

a For know, when sick’ning grief doth prey 
And tender love ’ repaid with scorn, 

The sweetest beauty will decay,—• 

What floweret can endure the storm ? * 



OXFORD TO FARINGDON. 


135 


“ At court, I’m told, is beauty’s throne. 
Where every lady’s passing rare, 

That Eastern flowers, that shame the sun, 
Are not so glowing, not so fair. 

“ Then, Earl, why didst thou leave the beds 
Where roses and where lilies vie, 

To seek a primrose, whose pale shades 
Must sicken when those gauds are by P 

“ ’Mong rural beauties I was one, 

Among the fields wild flowers are fair; 

Some country swain might me have won, 
And thought my beauty passing rare. 

“ But, Leicester, (or I much am wrong,) 

Or ’tis not beauty lures thy vows; 

Rather ambition’s gilded crown 

Makes thee forget thy humble spouse. 

“ Then, Leicester, why, again I plead, 

(The injured surely may repine,)— 

Why didst thou wed a country maid, 

When some fair princess might be thine ? 

“ Why didst thou praise my humble charms, 
And, oh ! then leave them to decay ? 

Why didst thou win me to thy arms, 

Then leave to mourn the livelong day P 

<{ The village maidens of the plain 
Salute me lowly as they go; 

Envious they mark my silken train, 

Nor think a Countess can have woe. 

“ The simple nymphs ! they little know 
How far more happy’s their estate ; 

To smile for joy—than sigh for woe— 

To be content—than to be great. 

“ How far less blest am I than them! 

Daily to pine and waste with care! 

Like the poor plant, that, from its stem 
Divided, feels the chilling air. 

« Nor, cruel Earl, can I enjoy 
The humble charms of solitude ; 

Your minions proud my peace destroy, 

By sullen frowns or pratings rude. 

« Last night, as sad I chanced to stray, 
The village death-bell smote my ear; 

They wink'd aside, and seemed to say, 

‘ Countess, prepare, thy end is near !’ 


“And now, while happy peasants sleep, 

Here I sit lonely and forlorn; 

No one to soothe me as I weep. 

Save Philomel on yonder thorn. 

“ My spirits flag—my hopes decay— 

Still that dread death-bell smites my ear ; 
And many a boding seems to say, 

‘ Countess, prepare, thy end is near 1’ ” 

Thus sore and sad that lady grieved, 

In Cumnor Hall, so lone and drear ; 

And many a heartfelt sigh she heaved, 

And let fall many a bitter tear. 

And ere the dawn of day appeared, 

In Cumnor Hall, so lone and drear, 

Full many a piercing scream was heard, 
And many a cry of mortal fear. 

The death-bell thrice was heard to ring,— 
An aerial voice was heard to call,— 

And thrice the raven flapp’d its wing 
Around the towers of Cumnor Hall. 

The mastiff howl’d at village door, 

The oaks were shattered on the green ; 
Woe was the hour—for never more 
That hapless Countess e’er was seen! 

And in that manor now no more 
Is cheerful feast and sprightly ball; 

For ever since that dreary hour 

Have spirits haunted Cumnor Hall. 

The village maids, with fearful glance, 
Avoid the ancient moss-grown wall ; 

Nor ever lead the merry dance 

Among the groves of Cumnor Hall. 

Full many a traveller oft hath sigh’d, 

And pensive wept the Countess’ fall, 

As wand'ring onwards they’ve espied 
The haunted towers of Cumnor Hall. 

The ancient structure consisted of a 
quadrangle of about seventy-two feet in 
length and fifty in breadth. In a field 
adjoining the churchyard are still visible 
some remains of Cumnor Place; but in 
1810 most of the ruins, which were 
in a dangerous state, were pulled down. 



136 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


The west door of the parish church 
of Curanor is in the Saxon style. In 
the interior are two ancient tombs, sup¬ 
posed to be of abbots of A bingdon, and 
a monument to the Anthony Forster 
before mentioned. In different parts 
of the parish are the remains of crosses. 
The parishioners who pay vicarial tithes, 
claim a custom of being entertained at 
the vicarage on the afternoon of Christ¬ 
mas Day with beer, bread, and cheese. 
About two miles from Cumnor, lying 
a little off the road to Abingdon, is 
Wooton, formerly a hamlet of Cumnor, 
but which was made a parish by the 
Earl of Abingdon in the early part of 
the last century. About a mile and a 
half north of Cumnor is a ferry across 
the Isis, to Stanton Harcourt, Oxford¬ 
shire. 

Besilslegh is about two miles from 
Cumnor on the high road to Faringdon. 
Here resided Wm. Lenthal, the Speaker 
of the Long Parliament. There was 
also formerly a manor-house of stone 
in this place, wherein was kept the 
famous picture of Sir Thomas More’s 
family. About a mile off, on the right 
of the road, is Appleton, which is in 
the hundred of Ock, and where there 
is a rare specimen of a very ancient 
mansion. 

In the parish church is a handsome 
monument of Sir John Fettiplace, who 
died in 1593, with his effigies in armour; 
and the tomb of John Goodryngton, 
with a figure in brass of a shrouded 
skeleton. At Finteynes, in this parish, 
was formerly a large mansion, moated 
round. Continuing our route towards 


Faringdon, we find Tubney House and 
Tubney, which lies on the high road 
from Faringdon to Abingdon, about 
four miles from the latter place. The 
church of Tubney has been long since 
destroyed, and on the induction of a 
new rector, divine service is performed 
in the open air. Within the manor are 
some extensive woods. About half a 
mile farther on, we reach 

Fyfield, formerly Fyfhide. A chan¬ 
try or hospital was founded here in 1442, 
pursuant to the will of Sir John Golafre, 
whose monument is in the north aisle of 
the church. His effigy in armour lies 
upon an open altar-tomb, having beneath 
the figure of a shrouded skeleton. On 
the north side of the chancel is an 
altar-tomb, from which the brass plates 
have been removed, erected in memory of 
Lady Gordon ; it stands under an obtuse 
arch with a roof of rich tracery, blue and 
gold; over the arch is a cornice of 
gilt foliage. About a mile distant from 
Fyfield, also on the high road, is 

Kingston Bagpuze, where there is 
a small but neat church, erected about 
the beginning of the present century, 
and a manor-house, also modern. At 
Newbridge, in this parish, which derives 
its name from the bridge there thrown 
over the Thames, the parliamentary 
army was repulsed by the king's whilst 
attempting to cross, on the 27th of May, 
1644. 

Longworth lies at a distance of 
nearly two miles from the high road, 
on the right. The manor was purchased 
early in the seventeenth century by Sir 
Henry Marten, father of the Henry 



OXFORD TO FARINGDON. 


137 


Marten who so distinguished himself 
in the Civil War. There are memorials 
of the family in the church. Bishop 
Fell was horn here in 1625. In an 
insulated part of this parish, which lies 
on the left of the high road, is an 
ancient entrenchment called Cherbury 
Camp, standing, according to tradition, 
on the site of a palace which belonged 


to Canute. The camp is in shape 
between an oval and a circle, and 
double ditched; its longest diameter 
is 310 paces. Charney Basset is a 
hamlet, though a considerable one, of 
this parish, and lies also to the left of 
the high road, at a distance of about 
two miles. There is here a chapel of 
ease of Saxon architecture- The manor 



[The Pusey Horn.] 


was originally in the possession of the 
abbot and convent of Abingdon. 

Hinton Walridge, about one mile 
and a quarter on the right of the road, 
and about six miles from Faringdon, 
was formerly a market town. There are 
here traces of another ancient camp. 
About a mile from Hinton Walridge 
is a ferry across the Isis to Duxford, in 
Oxfordshire. 

Pusey, in the hundred of Ganfield, 
lies about a mile distant from the road on 
the left. The manor is said to have been 
granted to the family by King Canute, 
and the well-known horn is still pre¬ 
served, by which the grant, it is said, was 
originally made. According to the de¬ 
scription given of it by Gough, it is the 
horn of an ox, of a dark-brown tortoise¬ 


shell colour, mounted at each end, and 
about the middle, with silver rings; the 
stopper is shaped like a dog’s head. 
The middle ring has two small feet 
affixed to it, and bears the following 
inscription: “ I, Kyng Knoude, geve 
William Pewse thys home to holde 
by thy londe.” The characters are said 
to be of a much later date than Canute’s 
time, and consequently doubt has been 
thrown upon the genuineness of the horn 
According to tradition, the horn and 
the land were originally given by Canute 
to an officer in his army as a reward for 
his vigilance in discovering and inform¬ 
ing him of an ambuscade formed by the 
Saxons to intercept him. In the reign 
of Edward I., Alice Paternoster held 
lands in Pusey by the tenure of saying 






138 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


a paternoster five times a-day for the 
souls of the king’s ancestors; and it 
appears that Richard Paternoster, on 
succeeding to an estate (probably the 
same) in this parish, instead of paying 
a sum of money as a relief, said the 
Lord’s Prayer thrice before the barons 
of the Exchequer, as John his brother 
had done before him. The church 
contains some ancient monuments. 

Four miles from Faringdon we find 
Buckland, lying a little to the right 
of the road. Thomas, son of the poet 
Chaucer, possessed this manor in 1436. 
Buckland House was built by Sir Robert 
Throckmorton, bart., in 1757. Several 
of the principal rooms are very hand¬ 
some. In the dining and drawing¬ 
rooms are some fine pictures ; and the 
librar has a ceiling painted by Cipriani, 
which is much admired. The grounds 
are beautifully laid out. At Tadpole, 
about two miles from Buckland House, 
is a bridge over the Isis, leading to 
Bampton, in Oxfordshire. Carswell 
House stands in the parish of Buckland. 

On the left of the road we have been 
pursuing, about four miles from Faring¬ 
don, on the road from that place to 
Wantage, is Stanford in the Yale, so 
called from its situation in the vale of 
the White Horse, of which its hand¬ 
some Gothic church and tower form a 
distinguished feature. There was for¬ 
merly a market here, but it has been 
long discontinued. A fair was also 
granted with the market in 1236 by the 
charter of Henry III. A mile and a 
half nearer Faringdon, we find, on the 
left of the road we have last mentioned, 


Shillingford, where there is an an¬ 
cient manor-house, formerly called Shel- 
lingford Castle. The parish church has 
a nave with ancient semicircular arches, 
and contains various monuments. 

Faringdon is pleasantly situated on 
an eminence, thirty-six miles north-west 
by west from Reading, and sixty-nine 
miles and a half west by north from 
London. It is governed by a bailiff 
and inferior officers. The market- 
day is Thursday. There are three 
annual fairs, viz., on Old Candlemas 
Day, Whitsun Tuesday, and 29th Oc¬ 
tober, besides a statute fair on the 18th 
October for hiring servants. The 
Saxon kings had a palace at Faringdon, 
wherein Edward the Elder died in 925 ; 
and a castle was built here during the 
wars in the reign of Stephen, by the 
Earl of Gloucester, or his son, but was 
totally destroyed a few years after by 
Stephen. In 1202 this king founded 
at Faringdon a priory of Cistercian 
monks subject to the abbey of Beaulieu, 
in Hampshire, and here, according to 
a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, 
King Henry III., his queen, and Prince 
Edward passed a night, being enter¬ 
tained at the cost of the Abbot of 
of Beaulieu. The expense of the king’s 
entertainment amounted to 1005. 6d. t 
the queen’s to 7 5s., and Prince Edward’s 
to 505. 6c?. This priory, like the castle 
above-mentioned, has long since been 
entirely ruined, and no vestige is left 
of either of them. Faringdon House 
was, during the Civil War, made a 
garrison, and Sir Marmaduke Rawdon 
appointed its governor, whose memory is 



OXFORD TO FARINGDON. 


139 


commemorated by an inscription in the 
parish church. Cromwell himself, on 
one occasion, in June, 1645, attacked it 
unsuccessfully; and a second attack 
was made with a like result under the 
command of the owner of the house, 
Sir Robert Pye. From this family the 
poet laureate, Henry James Pye, Esq., 
was descended. King Charles was at 
Faringdon after the second battle of 
Newbury. Near Radcot Bridge, about 
three miles to the north of Faringdon, 
was fought the battle between Robert 
Vere, Duke of Ireland, and the Earl of 
Derby, afterwards King Henry IV. 
The parish chureh, which is dedicated 
to All Saints, is a large and handsome 
structure in the Gothic style, and con¬ 
tains many old monuments, described 
in Ashmole’s * Antiquities of Berkshire.’ 
(Lond. 1719). It has a low square 
tower, formerly surmounted by a spire, 
which was destroyed during the Civil 
War. The vicarage is in the diocese of 
Salisbury, and its average net income 
is 265/. The parish of Great Faring¬ 
don is partly in the hundred of Faring¬ 
don and partly in that of Shrivenham. 
According to the population returns for 
1831, the entire parish contained 3033 
inhabitants and 6910 statute acres. 

There are roads from Faringdon into 
Glocestershire by Lechlade ; into Wilt¬ 
shire by Highworth, and another into 
the same county by Swindon. 

On the road from Faringdon to Lech¬ 
lade, in Gloucestershire, the only places 
requiring even brief notice, are Eaton 
Hastings, a village on the right, about 
three miles from the former, and Bus- 


cot House, about the same distance, 
situated in a park of 150 acres,near the 
road, from which it is seen to great ad¬ 
vantage. The building was completed 
in 1783. A short distance from Lech¬ 
lade we reach the Thames, which is 
here the boundary of the county, and 
spanned by a bridge called St. John’s 
bridge. 

On the road from Faringdon to 
Highworth, in Wiltshire, we find, first, 
Badbury Hill, situated about two miles 
from the former. Here, almost close 
to the road, is a Danish camp of a cir¬ 
cular form, about 200 yards in diameter, 
with a ditch about 20 yards wide. Hu¬ 
man bones have been found here very 
frequently. Leland mentions it as a 
“ great diche wher a fortresse or rather 
a camp of war, had beene, as some say* 
diked by the Danes as a sure camp.’’ 
Mr. Wise, in his letter to Dr. Mead, sup¬ 
poses that the battle of Mons Badonicus, 
or Bradbury Hill, in the year 520, men¬ 
tioned by Bede and Gildas, in which 
Arthur gained his twelfth victory, was 
fought near the White Horse Hill: this 
neighbourhood therefore was very pro¬ 
bably the scene of the engagement. 
Two miles farther we find— 

Coleshill House, the seat of the Earl of 
Radnor, a perfect specimen of the style 
of Inigo Jones, as it was erected from 
his design in 1650. The elevation is 
simple, yet imposing,—a perfect quad¬ 
rangular shape, and divided at a case¬ 
ment and two principal stories. There is a 
happy symmetry observed throughout. 
The interior contains some good paint¬ 
ings, and is very characteristic of the 




140 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


tastes of the times, with its ponderous 
chimney-pieces, cornices, &c., and with 
the profusion of its carvings and gild¬ 
ings. The grounds are beautiful. The 
Cole, which most probably gives name 
to the parish and the house, glides 
through a valley which skirts the west¬ 
ern side of the park. The parish church 
of Coleshill is a neat stone building, 
having a handsome square tower with 
battlements and pinnacles. In the 
chancel is a handsome monument to 
Sir Henry Pratt, bart., who died in 1647. 
There is a curious circular window in the 
south aisle, on which the arms of Sir R. 
Mark Stuart and his lady are repre¬ 
sented in painted glass. In the same 
aisle is an elegant marble cenotaph, by 
Rysbrach, to the memory of the only 
daughter of the above-mentioned per¬ 
sons, and wife of Mr. W. Bouverie, 
afterwards Earl of Radnor. The east 
window of the chancel contains a fine 
painting in stained glass, of the Na¬ 
tivity, brought from Angiers, in 1787, 
by the Earl of Radnor. The south 
transept is all that remains of a chapel, 
built about 1499, by Thomas Pleydell- 
Esq. : it is now fitted up as a pew for 
Lord Radnor’s family. About a mile 
and a half from Coleshill is Stratton, 
borough Castle. 

On the road to Swindon we find,on the 
left, Little Coxwell; and, on the 
right, Great Coxwell, each about a 
mile and a half distant from Faring don. 
At the last place is a great barn, built 
by the abbots of Beaulieu, to whom the 
manor was granted by King John in 
1204. It is a remarkably fine piece of 


masonry, measuring 148 feet by 40, with 
walls four feet thick, and the roof sup¬ 
ported by two rows of large upright 
timbers, resting on massive stone piers. 

At Longcot, a hamlet of Shrivenham, 
on the left of the road, about four miles 
from Faringdon, is a chapel of ease. 

Shrivenham is about five miles from 
Faringdon. This was anciently a place of 
considerable note, with a market and a 
fair, both long since discontinued. The 
manor was granted by King John to 
Geoffrey Earl of Perch (1199—1216). 
The church is a large and handsome 
Gothic structure. In the interior is a 
double row of circular columns and 
arches, extending the whole length of the 
building, forming aisles both to the nave 
and to the chancel. The tower in the 
centre is supported by four pointed 
arches. There are various monuments 
of the Barrington family: we may 
mention that to Viscount Barrington, 
who died in 1793, and who had filled 
the distinguished post of Chancellor of 
the Exchequer; and Admiral Barring¬ 
ton, who acquired considerable reputa¬ 
tion by his various naval achievements, 
particularly in the capture of a French 
ship of sixty guns, whose flag is pre¬ 
served here ; and in the repulse, at St. 
Lucia, in 1779, of a very superior French 
force. There is also a monument to 
Sir John Wildman, alderman of London 
and postmaster-general, who died in 
1693, and who directed by his will 
“ that if his successors should think fit, 
there should be some stone, of small 
price, set near his ashes to signify, 
without foolish flattery, to his posterity, 



OXFORD TO FAR 1NGDON. 


141 


that in that age lived a man who spent 
the best part of his days in prisons, 
without crimes, being conscious of no 
otfence towards man, for that he so 
loved his God that he could serve no 
man’s will, and wished the liberty and 
happiness of his country, and of all 
mankind.” It is also recorded that his 
son, John Wildman, preferred confine¬ 
ment with his father for many years, 
whilst a prisoner of state in the Isle of 
Scilly, in the reign of Charles II., 
to the enjoyment of his liberty. Becket 
Park is in this parish. The manor 
formerly belonged to the Earl of Evreux, 
from whom it passed into the possession 


of the crown, and became a royal 
residence. King John occasionally 
visited here. In the reign of Edward 
III. the manor was in the possession 
of the family of Becket or Beeote, who 
held lands in Shrivenham by the fol¬ 
lowing singular tenure : Whenever the 
king in his progresses should pass by 
Fowyeare’s-Mill bridge in Shrivenham 
two white capons were to be presented 
with this address, “ Ecce, domine, istos 
duos capones, quos alias habetitis, sed 
non nunc.”* Becket’s house is built in 
the Gothic style. 

* Behold, my lord, these two capons, which you 
shall have another time, but not now. 




CHAPTER XI. 


OXFORD TO hungerford; 


Wantage and several other places on 
this route are described in former chap¬ 
ters, to which a reference is made at the 
proper place. This route completes our 
itinerary of the county so far as the 
principal turnpike roads are concerned. 
The Great Western Railway crosses the 
road from Oxford to Hungerford about 
two miles north of Wantage, twelve 
miles from Oxford, and eighteen from 
Hungerford: the Steventon station is 
the one nearest the road, being about 
three miles from East Hanney and five 
from Wantage. 

As far as Besilsleigli the turnpike road 
is the same as that we have described in 
the route from Oxford to Faringdon in 
the previous chapter. We therefore 
commence from Besilsleigh, and cross¬ 
ing Frilford Heath, we reach Frilford, 
a hamlet of the parish of Marcham, 
which lies about three miles off on the 
left on the Abingdon road. Marcham, 
about three miles from Abingdon, was 
the seat of the well-known misers, Sir 
Harvey Elwes, and of his heir John 
Elwes, Esq., whose life has been so in¬ 
terestingly written by Topham. In the 
church is a tomb to Sir Richard Corbet, 
who died in 1403, with his effigies en- 
carved on a brass plate; and an ancient 


wooden rood loft. On the right of the 
road, about a mile from Frilford is Gar- 
ford, also a hamlet of Marcham. About 
half a mile from Frilford we cross the 
river Ock, and a mile and a half from 
this we find 

East Hanney, a hamlet of West 
Hanney, within about four miles from 
Wantage lying by the road-side. There 
were here formerly three manors, one of 
them belonging to the priory of Noyon in 
Normandy. West Hanney is situated 
at a distance of about three quarters of 
a mile on the right of the road, and about 
three and a half miles north of Wantage. 
The manor belonged to the alien priory 
of Newenton-Longueville in Bucking¬ 
hamshire. The manor of North Dench- 
wortli in this parish was purchased of 
Ralph de Camois, one of the barons 
opposed to King John, by Adam Fetti- 
place, who seems to have been the first 
of that very ancient family who .'settled 
in Berkshire. In the church, which 
contains some Saxon remains, is the 
tomb of Sir Christopher Lytcoth who 
was knighted in the camp before Rouen 
in 1591, by Henry IV. of France. There 
are various other family memorials. 
Passing through Grove, a hamlet of 
Wantage, we find ourselves within a short 



OXFORD TO HUNGERFORD. 


143 


distance of that town, which we have 
described in the previous chapter. 

Near the Red House, about four miles 
from Wantage, our route crosses the 
ancient Ridge-way, or Ickleton-street; a 
little off the right branch of which, also 
on its right, we find Letcombe Castle, an 
ancient entrenchment situated on a com¬ 
manding position on the Downs. Its form 
is irregular, but approaches the circular ; 
it has a double vallum, and altogether 
encloses an area of about twenty-six 
acres. The entrenchments and ditches 
alone contain eight and a half acres. 
There was an entrance to the camp on 
the west side. It is supposed to have 
been originally a British work, and 
to have been afterwards used by the Ro¬ 
mans. Letcombe Basset, a short dis¬ 
tance from the castle, derives its latter 
name from the Basset family, who pos¬ 
sessed the manor in the 13th century. 
Here, in the house of his friend, Mr. 
Gery, the rector, Dean Swift resided for 
some time after his unsuccessful en¬ 
deavour to reconcile the Lords Oxford 
and Bolingbroke in June, 1714, and 
wrote his pamphlet, “ Free Thoughts 
on the present state'of Affairs,” which 
owing to the death of the Queen (Anne), 
just at the time, was not published till 
1741. 

Letcombe Regis is on a road which 
branches out from that we are pursuing, 
at the Red House, and is continued 
toward Faringdon. In direct distance 
it is only about a mile and a half S.W. 
of Wantage. It derives its name from 
the circumstance of its having anciently 
belonged to the crown as a part of the 


royal demesnes. Henry VI., pursuant 
to the will of his father, gave the manor 
to the abbot and convent ofWestminster. 
A large portion of the parish was also 
given by one of the kingly owners to the 
monastery of Clugny in Burgundy. The 
manor house, of which remains were ex¬ 
isting in the last century, appears to 
have been an edifice of some importance. 
It was moated, and had over the gate¬ 
way a large apartment called the guard- 
room. Tradition assigns the erection of 
the building to King John. The Berks 
canal, and a branch of the Ock pass 
through Letcombe. There is a seat 
here called Benhams. 

Returning to the Red House, and con¬ 
tinuing our route toward Hungerford, we 
pass on the left Farnborough, which 
lies about two miles distant from the road, 
in the hundred of Compton. Great 
or N orth Fawley is about three quar¬ 
ters of a mile from the road on the right. 
The manor belonged from an early 
period to the nuns of Ambresbury. 
Woolly Park on the left, is in the parish 
of Chaddleworth. There was here 
formerly a free chapel. The house, built 
in 1690, was much altered in 1799. 
Bright Waltham, in the hundred of 
Faircross, is still farther from the road, 
nearly in the same direction. It is very 
commonly called Brikleton. The manor 
belonged to the abbey of Battle in 
Sussex. In the church is an ancient 
font with circular interlaced arches. 

Chaddleworth is about a mile from 
the road on the same side, about seven 
miles from Wantage. The manor was 
given by William the Conqueror to 




144 


JOURNEY-BOOK OF BERKSHIRE. 


Robert D’Oyley : it afterwards belonged 
to the mother of Edward I., who bought 
it for the support of her daughter 
Eleanor of Brittany, then a nun of 
Ambresbury; the reversion was settled 
on the princess and convent. The sin¬ 
gular custom by which a widow re¬ 
covered her life-interest in her husband’s 
estates, when forfeited by incontinency, 
as described in our notice of Enborne, 
also prevailed here. The church presents 
some Saxon remains. 

About a mile and a half from Chad- 
dleworth is a place called Ellensford- 
mere, in which is a farm-house in a 
retired spot among woods. This is the 
site of the monastery of Poghly (itself 
occupying the site of an ancient hermit¬ 
age) built by Ralph de Ghaddleworth in 
1160. The canons were of the Augustin 


order. The monastery was suppressed 
by Cardinal Wolsey among the other 
smaller monasteries dissolved in 1532, 
when its revenues were about 711. per 
annum. 

The two Sheffords we noticed in tlic^ 
route from Newbury to Lambourn (chap, 
vii.). Here we cross the river Lambourn, 
between which and Hungerford we find 
Newtown, a large tithing of Hungerford, 
and Eddington House in the hamlet of 
Eddington, which it is alleged is the 
ancient Ethandane, where King Alfred 
gained a decisive victory over the Danes, 
though Eddington near Westbury in 
Wilts is supposed by others to be the 
Ethendane of the Saxon Chronicle. 

Hungerford, rather more than thirty 
miles from Oxford, is noticed in the last 
chapter. 




INDEX. 


/ 


i 


Abingdon, 124 
Aldermaston, 104 
Aldworth, 96 
Alfred's Castle, 122 
Appleford, 124 
Ashampstead, 96 
Ashbury, 122 

Badbury Hill, ancient camp at, 139 

Bagshot Heath, 69 

Basilden, 96 

Bay worth, 123 

Beedon, 126 

Beenham, 105 

Berkshire, Derivation of, 1 ; Situation, 
Boundaries and Extent, ib. ; Physical Ap¬ 
pearances, 2 ; Rivers, 3 ; Woodlands, 4; 
Climate, ib. ; Soil, 5 ; History and Anti¬ 
quities, 8; Former Inhabitants, ib. ; Roman 
Roads and Stations, 9 ; Ancient Camps 
and Earth-works, 10; Castles, 11 ; Manor- 
houses, 12; Monastic Establishments, ib. ; 
Churches, 13; Agriculture and Rural 
Economy, 14; Rotation of Crops, 15; 
Size of Farms, ib ; Implements of Hus¬ 
bandry, ib.', Market Gardens, 16; Cop¬ 
pices and Osieries, ib.; Cattle and Live¬ 
stock, 17; Political Topography, 18; 
Civil Divisions ib. ; Ecclesiastical Divisions 
and Value of Livings, 19; Number of 
County Electors, 21; Population, Ages 
and Occupations, 22; Civic Economy, 
24; Local Taxation and Expenditure, ib. ; 
Pauperism, 25; Crime, 26; Education 
and Schools; 27; Savings’ Banks, 27; 
Means of Communication and Traffic, 28; 

Vol. I. 


Roads, 28; Railway, 29; Rivers, 30; 
Canals, ib .; Post Towns, 31; Markets and 
Fairs, ib. 

Besilsleigh, 136 

Binfield, 64; Pops’s tree at, 65 

Bisham, 76 

Blewberry, 97 

Blowing Stone, 120 

Boxford, 111 

Bray, 72 

Bright Waltham, 140 
Brightwell, 114; Barrow at, 114 
Brimpton, 105 
Buckland, 138 
Burghfield, 103 

Caesar’s Camp, 68 

Chaddleworth, 143 

Challow, East, 119; ditto, West, 120 

Cherbury Camp, 137 

Chieveley, 128 

Childrey, 119 

Cholsey, 97 

Clewer Green, 64 

Coxwell, Little, 140; ditto, Great, ib. 
Compton, 126 
Coleshill, 140 

Cumnor, 132; Mickle’s ballad of Cumnor 
Hall, 134 
Coley, 102 

Compton Beauchamp, 122 
Cookham, 76 


L 





INDEX. 


146 

Devil’s Causeway, 69 
Donnington Castle, 128 
Drayton, 124 
Dudcot, 115 

Easthampstead, 68 
Eaton Hastings, 139 
Eddington, 144 
Elcot Park, 109 
Ellensfordmere, 144 
Englefield House, 102 
Eton College, 35 

Faringdon, 138 
Fawley, Great or North, 143 
Finchampstead, 68 
Fy field, 136 

Garston, East, 112 

Hagbourn, East, 115; ditto West, ib. 
Hampstead Marshall, 108 
Hardwell Camp, 122 
Harwell, 115 

Hanney, East, 142; ditto West, ib. 
Hendred, East, 116; ditto West, ib. 
Hinksey, South, 123 
Hinksey, North, 132 
Hinton Waldridge, 137 
Hungerford, 110 
Hurley, 76 

Ilsley, West, 125; ditto East, 126 
Inkpen, 109 

Kennington, 123 
Kentbury, 109 
Kingston Bagpuze, 136 
Kingston Lisle, 120 

Lady Place, 77 

Lambourn, 112; Barrows near, 113 
Letcombe Basset, 143; Letcombe Regis, ib. 
Longworth, 136 
Maidenhead, 71 


Marcham, 142 
Midgham, 104 

Military College at Sandhurst, 68 
Milton, 125 

Moreton, North, 115 ; ditto South, ib. 
Moulsford, 97 

Newbury, 105 
Ockwells Manor-house, 72 

Pad worth, 104 
Pangbourn, 95 
Peasemore, 126 
Pope’s Tree at Binfield, 65 
Purley, 95 
Pusey, 137 

Radley, 123 

Railway, Great Western, 29, 33, 64, 71, 81, 
102, 114, 131, 142; Stations on, 30 
Reading, 81; Situation of, ib ; Historical 
Notice of, ib .; Ancient Remains, 85; 
Churches and Public Buildings, 89 j 
Schools, 91; Charities, 92; Eminent Men 
bom at, 93 
Remenham, 7 8 

Sandhurst, 68 
Sandleford Priory, 108 
Satwell, 114 
Shalbourn, 109 
Shaw, 130 

Shelford, East, 111; ditto West, ib. 
Shillingford, 138 
Shottesbrooke, 69 

Sinodun Hill, ancient camp on, 114 

Shrivenham, 140 

Sonning, 75 

Sonningwell, 123 

Sparsholt, 120 

Speen, 108 

Speenhamland, 108 

Stanford in the Vale, 138 

Steventon, 125 

Stratfield Mortimer, 103 





INDEX. 


147 


Streatly, 97 

Sulhampstead Bannister, 103 ; Sulhampstead 
Abbots, ib. 

Sutton Courtney, 124 

Thatcham, 105 
Theale, 102 
Tilehurst, 102 
Twyford, 74 

Uffington, 121; Castle, ib. 

Ufton, 103 

Wallingford, 97 
Wantage, 116 
Wargrave, 78 
Wasing 105. 

Wavland Smith’s Cave, 113 
Welford, 111 

White Horse Hill, 121; the White Horse, ib .: 
White Horse Yale, ib. 


White Knights, 69 
White Waltham, 69 

Windsor, Town of, 37 ; Windsor Castle, 39; 
Situation and Appearance of, ib .; History 
of, 41; Interior of, 48; State Apartments 
in, 51; Round Tower, 54 ; St. George’s 
Chapel, 55; Windsor Park, 58; Herne’s 
Oak, ib', The Long Walk, ib ; Equestrian 
Statue of George III., 60; Virginia 
Water, ib. 

Winkfield, 64 
Witham, 131 

Wittenham, 114; ditto Little, 115 ; ditto 
Long, 115 
Wokingham, 67 
Woodhay, West, 109 
Woolhampton, 105 

Yattendori, 127 


London : Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street. 

























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I 


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KNIGHT’S ENGLISH CLASSICS. 


It is proposed by Messks. CHARLES KNIGHT and Co. to publish a series of works of the 
highest reputation, forming a Collection of English Literature, under the above title. This series 
will differ from other collections of a somewhat similar character, in the following particulars :— 

1. The more important of our elder writers, whose works have been almost uniformly rejected 
from popular collections, will have the place which belongs to them in this edition of ‘ English 
Classics.’ 

2. The text of a great writer will not only be republished, but the particular work will be care¬ 
fully edited, with such notes as may conduce to the understanding of the original, and add to its 
interest by illustrative anecdote and criticism. A Biography of the Author will accompany each 
work. 

3. The series will be illustrated with Wood Engravings. 

4. The series will be beautifully printed in a novel size, which, whilst it admits of the great con¬ 
densation and consequent cheapness which result from the prevailing mode of republication in large 
octavos, will enable the reader to use each work as a hand-book. 

Of this Series are published 

1. GOLDSMITH'S CITIZEN OF THE WORLD. With Twenty-four Wood- 
cuts. Price Four Shillings. 

2. BACON S ESSAYS AND ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. With 
Thirty-four Wood-cuts. Price Four Shillings. 


KNIGHT’S ENGLISH MISCELLANIES. 


The title, * English Classics,’ at once distinguishes the class of books which will be included in that 
series. They are of those works which have a perennial reputation, and which require to be pre¬ 
sented to the reader with a scrupulous adherence to the author's text, and with such annotations as 
may tend to explain the obscure and illustrate the beautiful. But there is a very large class of 
works in our literature which, for the most part, require, not only illustration, but occasional 
analysis and abridgment. Though full of the highest interest, and deserving of the most extensive 
popularity, they cannot be denominated classics, but may be fitly included under the comprehensive 
title of ‘ Miscellanies.’ The classes of works to which we principally allude are those which are 
not so much specimens of composition as storehouses of facts, derived, in many cases, lrom the per¬ 
sonal observations of the writers ; works which are eagerly sought after by those who can form ex¬ 
tensive and costly libraries, but which are inaccessible, from their high price (sometimes produced 
by their scarcity) to the general reader. Without furnishing a list of the particular works which we 
have in mind, we will mention the Classes of Literature proposed to be included in this series: 


I. BIOGRAPHY. 

This most fascinating department of literature, interesting as it is in every shape, has degrees of 
interest and value. Where the writer speaks of himself, or of others, from his personal knowledge, 
the most homely narrative has charms in which the most elegant is deficient, when the author is, in 
the large sense of the word, only a compiler. Thus William Hutton’s plain Autobiography is tar 
more to be prized for its details of human character and conduct than Middleton s learned Lite of 
Cicero; and Roger North’s Lives of his Brothers are, to our minds, of a much higher worth than 
the many new and prettily finished memoirs of princes and statesmen which our times have pro- 








duced. To present this striking and original class of works, either entire or in a condensed shape, 
will be chielly aimed at in this department. 

II.—FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

The interest which belongs to personal narrative of every kind is essentially the chief source of 
the fascination of Letters. The human mind is generally here presented in an undress ; and even 
when letters assume the character of studied compositions, the real character of the writer peeps 
out in spite of every disguise. The materials for a popular series of familiar letters are almost 
unbounded. 

III.—MEMOIRS CONNECTED WITH PUBLIC EVENTS. 

Our literature does not boast of the riches which the French possess in this department; but 
every student of our history will recollect many works of the highest importance that he would be 
glad to have reprinted, entire or in part, in a uniform series. 

IV.—OLD TRAVELLERS, 

Particularly those such as Dampier and Wafer, whose works have all the charm of narratives of 
personal danger and romantic adventure. 

V.—OLD ANTIQUARIANS AND TOPOGRAPHERS. 

We have a mine of the richest materials for original descriptions of our country, at varying 
periods, by writers who speak from their own personal observation. Nothing, for example, can 
be more truthful and curious than ‘ Harrison’s Description of England,’ a work which can only be 
found in connexion with Holinshed’s Chronicles. 

VI.—LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM. 

Some of the most interesting critical papers in our language are to be found scattered in ex¬ 
pensive books, or exist only as separate tracts. We would instance some of Dryden’s Prefaces, and 
Martin Sherlock’s Fragment on Shakspere. The materials for detached Literary History, such as 
the controversy regarding Rowley’s Poems, demand, especially, selection and condensation. 

VII.—'THE ENGLISH CAUSES CELEBRES, 

Exhibiting remarkable Passages of Human Life and of Evidence, as brought 

out in Trials at Law. 

This series will aim at presenting, in a popular form, everything that can be made generally 
interesting in an extensive but little explored department of our literature, the records of proceed¬ 
ings of all kinds in Courts of Justice. There is no richer storehouse of curious and authentic facts 
illustrative of human character and conduct. Even what are called civil cases, or pleas between 
private parties, relating merely to rights of property or to injuries for which compensation is sought 
in pecuniary damages, sometimes bring out the most extraordinary scenes of life or conflicts of 
evidence. Witness the famous Douglas cause. Old trials, also, often illustrate by-gone manners 
and customs, and other curiosities of antiquarianism; sometimes historical events and constitu¬ 
tional usages; and although neither the illustration of ancient manners, nor of history, in any 
systematic way will be attempted in the present work, the direct objects of which are sufficiently 
expressed in its title, all incidental allusions to such matters will be noticed as they occur. 

Of this Series are publislre :— 

1. ENGLISH CAUSES CELEBRES; or, Reports of Remarkable Trials. 
Edited and Illustrated by G. L. Craik. Vol. I., price Four Shillings. 

2. THE CHINESE; a General Description of China. By J. F. Davis, Esq., 
F.R.S.; late His Majesty's Chief Commissioner in China. With Sixty Wood-cuts. 
Complete in One Volume, price Five Shillings. 

3. THE PASTON LETTERS. Vol. I., price Five Shillings. 






BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CHARLES KNIGHT AND CO. 


Under the Superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 

j.n two handsome, thick, closely-printed 8vo. volumes, price £2. 2s., the Second 

Edition, corrected and improved, of 

A STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 

By J. R. McCulloch, Esq., assisted by numerous Contributors. 


The principal subjects treated of in these 
volumes are—Extent, Physical Circumstances, 
and Civil Divisions of the British Empire, in¬ 
cluding the Geological and Physical Characters 
of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, with 
their Climate, Natural History, Civil Divisions, 
and Statistics. 

The Industry of the British Empire, as dis¬ 
played in its Agriculture, Mines, and Minerals, 
Fisheries, and Manufactures. 

The Commerce of Great Britain, Foreign and 
Domestic, with notices of the means and instru¬ 
ments by which it is carried on: as Money, 
Weights and Measures, Roads, Railroads, 
Canals, Shipping, &c. 

The Civil and Religious Constitution and 


Government of the British Empire, including the 
Constitution and Procedure of Parliament, the 
Duties, See., of the Executive, Proceedings in 
Courts of Justice, &c.. Municipal Corporations, 
the Constitution, Courts, &c., of Scotland and of 
Ireland, and the Religious Establishments of 
the Three Kingdoms. 

Miscellaneous Particulars, consisting of Esta¬ 
blishments for Public Education, Revenue and 
Expenditure, Army and Navy, Crimes, Punish¬ 
ments and Prisons, Improvements in Food, 
Clothing, and Lodging, Classification and In¬ 
come of the People, Colonies and Depend¬ 
encies, Vital Statistics, Provision for the Poor, 
Origin and Progress of the English Language, 
&c. &c. &c. 


In Two Volumes, 12mo., price 7s. 6d. each, bound in cloth, 

The PROGRESS of the NATION, in its various SOCIAL and ECONO¬ 
MICAL RELATIONS, from the beginning of the Nineteenth Century to the 
Present Time. By G. R. Porter, Esq., F.R.S. 

Sections I. and II.— Population and Production. 

Sections III. and IV., Interchange, and Revenue and Expenditure. 


“It rarely falls to the lot of a reviewer to read 
a book so full of information, and so deeply in¬ 
teresting, as the volume before us. Vast labour 
must have been bestowed upon it by Mr. Porter, 
who has collected from various sources the statis¬ 
tics of population and production, and with their 
help has presented such a picture of the progress 
of our nation as must make every Briton’s heart 
swell with pride, and every philanthropist’s 
bosom beat with pleasure.” 

“ The first volume of this work was published 
in the autumn of 1836, and we then (No. 468) 
gave an account of the statistical information 


therein collected respecting the population of 
Great Britain, and the occupations of its inha¬ 
bitants. Our attention must now be directed to 
the subject of interchange, including all the 
means of internal communication and foreign 
commerce. * * * We cannot follow Mr. 
Porter through his investigations of the revenue 
and expenditure, but we recommend them to the 
attention of all who feel interested in forming an 
estimate of the welfare of the nation. They are 
the results of patient and extensive research, 
arranged with equal skill and fairness.”— 
Athenaeum. 


In Two Volumes, post 8vo., £1. Is., 

The COTTON MANUFACTURES of GREAT BRITAIN 

SYSTEMATICALLY INVESTIGATED, and illustrated by 150 Original Figures, 
engraved in Wood and Steel; with an Introductory View of its Comparative State 
in Foreign Countries, chiefly drawn from personal Survey. By Andrew Ure, M.D., 
F.R.S., &c. 

Post 8vo., 10s. 6 d., bound in cloth, 

The PHILOSOPHY of MANUFACTURES ; or, an Exposition of the Scien¬ 
tific, Moral, and Commercial Economy of the Factory System. By Andrew Ure, 
I M.D., F.R.S., &c. &c. Second Edition, corrected. With Wood-cuts and Steel 
J Plates. 

















BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CHARLES KNIGHT AND CO. 


In Monthly Parts, price 2s. 6 d. each, to he completed in two handsome volumes, 

super-royal 8vo., 

THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF PALESTINE; 

BY THE EDITOR OF THE “PICTORIAL BIBLE.” 

The main object of the present Work is to relate every event of interest or importance in the 
political, social, military, and religious history of the country called Palestine, and of the Hebrew 
nation, from the most remote ages to the period of the dispersion of that people. It will thus 
form an entire and complete 

BIBLE HISTORY; 

and in order that the historical narrative may be the more thoroughly comprehended, and the 
work rendered as perfect as possible, it has been thought desirable that what may be called 

THE PHYSICAL HISTORY OF PALESTINE 

should form a part of the undertaking. By this is to be understood an account of the physical 
geography of the country, and its various products and characteristics, a part of the subject 
which exists nowhere else in a separate and distinct form, but has to be sought for in books of 
travels and works of the most miscellaneous description. The Wood-Engravings, which will be 
very numerous, and many from original drawings, will be executed in the first style of the art; the 
subjects bein^ representations of actual scenery, costume, manners, monuments,^ and objects of 
natural historv, in some instances combined into a picture or group, but never exhibiting anv thing 
merely fanciful. 


In Half-crown Monthly Parts, royal 8vo. 

A NEW TRANSLATION OF THE 

TALES OF A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, 

KNOWN IN ENGLAND AS 

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS’ ENTERTAINMENTS, 

With copious Notes, by Edward William Lane, Esq., 

Illustrated with many Hundred Woodcuts, engraved by the first English Artists 
after Original Designs by William Harvey, Esq. 


In offering to the English reader an entirely new 
version of the Tales of a Thousand and One 
Nights, it is one of the chief objects of the trans¬ 
lator to render these enchanting fictions as in¬ 
teresting to persons of mature age and education 
as they have hitherto been to the young, and to 
do this without divesting them of those attrac¬ 
tions which have chiefly recommended them to 
the latter. The version which has so long amused 
us, not made immediately from the original 
Arabic, but through the medium of a French 
translation, is extremely loose, and abounds with 
such errors as greatly to detract from the most 
valuable quality of the work, which is that ot 
presenting a series of most faithful and minutely 
detailed pictures of the manners and customs of 
the Arabs. The author of ‘ The Manners and 
Customs of the Modern Egyptians’ is engaged in 
translating the whole of the original work, with 
the exception of such portions as he deems un¬ 
interesting, or on any account objectionable. The 


original work being designed solely for the enter¬ 
tainment of Arabs, copious notes will be added 
to the translation, to render it more intelligible 
and agreeable to the English reader. 

■* v The engravings, which will be so numerously 
interspersed in the translation, will considerably 
assist to explain both the text and the notes; 
and to ensure their accuracy, to the utmost of 
his ability, with respect to costume, architecture, 
and scenery, the translator will supply the artist 
with dresses and other requisite materials, and 
will be allowed to suggest any corrections that 
he may find necessary, without fettering his 
imagination, which, judging from the progress 
already made in the designs, promises to make 
the pictorial embellishments of- the work fully 
correspond with the rich variety of its descrip¬ 
tions. 

Two volumes of the work have been completed, 
and are published, price 28?. each, and the whole 
will be completed in three volumes. 






















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